Wish Upon a Star
by RottedKarma
Summary: Kimiko Midoriya's quirk strands her in a villain hideout, forcing her to fight her way out; but you don't back something into a corner and not expect it to bite- Kimiko wasn't going to die, so they would. The story of a grittier Fem!Izuku who'll need cunning if she wants to more than survive.
1. Into the Depths of Hell

Whatever hell-demon had wished her here had no intention of sending her back.

But it was her power that had drained, her mind that had _wanted_. Kimiko Midoriya had sent herself into the heart of a villain hideout and she wasn't getting out alive.

"Little girl," said a slithering voice, "how exactly did you get here?"

She had to look up, but fear kept her still. She had to speak, but her mouth had run dry.

"This is stupid," snapped a female voice. "Just kill the thing and move on."

Kimiko's breath stuttered. _No-!_

"Shigaraki might want her. You know how he likes to collect."

"Ugh, whatever. Knock her out and decide later."

It was with a terrified certainty in her heart that she forced her trembling gaze off of the floor. Noticing her stare, the man flicked his gaze over to meet hers. He smiled. Kimi's legs went weak. He wasn't a villain she recognized, and she couldn't exactly pull out her notebook to check.

"Her eyes are awfully pretty," remarked the female. "Ichiro would want them for his collection. Hey Ichiro! Get your ass over here!"

"What's all the commotion?" called a silky voice from another room. Soft, predatorial footsteps approached.

Kimiko bolted, but the male villain crossed the distance in an instant. He yanked her back by her collar and threw her to the floor. The impact was brutal, bruising. The sheer desperateness of the situation – the fear – the pain – sent tears springing to the corners of Kimi's eyes. The other man, Ichiro, had arrived. There were villains on all sides of her, and there was nowhere to run. Her power, that cold, unfathomable beast beneath her skin, had gone dormant, and there was no hope that Kimi could summon to bring it back to life.

She wanted to stay on the floor. Wanted to curl up and bury her head in her arms and hide her tears from the world. She was just ten; ten years old and slow, weak, and exceptionally easy to kill.

The villains were talking amongst themselves, but the thrum of her heartbeat drowned them out. _"Shigaraki might want her"_ they had said. Where would they take her? What would become of her? She didn't want to know- didn't want to find out what they did to little girls with strange quirks.

Kimiko rose on shaky legs. She would die trying to escape, but rather that than whatever they had planned for her.

One way or another, this place would be her tomb.

"I dunno," drawled the villain Ichiro. "Do we really want to bother Shigaraki with this?"

"We need money, and it's worth a shot."

"Ah well. Fair enough."

It was a mixture of paranoia and sheer luck that had her head rotate just enough to catch a flash of movement in the corner of her vision. The terror within her exploded, sending her launching forwards. Something smooth and scaly brushed against her ear and she flinched away, stumbling.

"Damn," hissed the woman. A night-cloaked serpent wove back around her outstretched arm.

"Useless," the male villain remarked casually. He advanced on Kimi with a slow, easy gait. She stumbled backwards and tried to dart to a side, but Ichiro was there with a feline smile and a gleaming six-inch knife. Her breath caught and she scrambled away, giving a start when her back hit the wall.

 _Cornered_. Like an animal. Trapped prey about to die. The crashing fear was dizzying, crushing the breath from her lungs. A sob built in her throat and she was choking on the fear, the despair. Lazily, the villain rolled his shoulder and wound back an arm-

 _Well you know what they say about cornered rats._

Half-mad with terror, Kimiko threw herself aside. Silver flashed, and that beautiful six-inch blade came cleaving down. She rolled and sprang up, darting around Ichiro and swerving away from the serpent-woman.

"Idiots!" the woman hissed. The black snake unravelled itself from her arm.

Ichiro plowed after her, his sleek predator's build catching up with ease. A line of hot pain dragged itself down her back, and Kimi whirled just in time to see the knife surge towards her again. There was no time to dodge; it swept towards her like death itself gliding on shadowed wings, and she squeezed her eyes shut, throwing out a hand–

The fiery, soul-shattering pain did not come. There was only the sensation of smooth leather and a comfortable weight in her hand.

Her eyes fearfully fluttered open. The knife was in her hands, piercing the knuckles of the villain who'd held it, though it was only surprise that had made him freeze. That hadn't been a carefully-planned, cohesive wish, but one borne from the overwhelming, frenzied desire to _live_.

And now she cradled the power of death in her hands.

Kimi breathed.

Even in a world full of explosion-creating hands and fists that could shatter brick walls, it was the knife -such a _raw_ weapon of murder- that caused her to think _danger_ , to think about life and death and how frail the human heart really was. It was dangerous and horrible and utterly _beautiful_ to Kimi, who wasn't going to die here.

She _was not_ going to die. Her mom was going to see her child again, damnit.

Kimi exhaled.

Flashing forwards, she struck with an unprecedented viciousness. Ichiro snapped out of his microsecond-long surprise, back arching and shoulders tensing, preparing to meet her head on. Then Kimi swerved with the natural dexterity of a child, feeling nothing but the thundering of her heart in her ears and the blade in her hands.

The villain was turning, just a single beat behind her, but it would be enough– it would _have_ to be enough. She planted her feet and jumped, timing it with the exact moment he'd catch up and face her.

A fist came up to sucker punch her in the gut, but her blade was already moving, slicing through flesh with a feeling of satisfying resistance to her hands; a sort of sick satisfaction that Kimiko wasn't powerless- she had power, and she was going to live.

The knife was in his throat. It was _in his throat_ , there was blood and he was _screaming-_

It was a single moment of horror clashing with defiance where her whole world focused on the collapsing form of the villain; a man with platinum blond hair framing his face, carefully sculpted aristocratic features, high cheekbones and pale, star-like eyes.

It completely clashed with her image of villains: evil-looking brutes with faces twisted in ugly emotion. But the person fallen at her feet was _beautiful,_ and it was like she'd just slain an angel- she'd _killed_ and that was a horrible, horrible fact that she'd have to live with for the rest of her life.

Those realizations and flashes of heart-wrenching emotions had her frozen for just a second, and it was one second too long. Her mind was forcibly snapped back to her situation as a fist slammed into her jaw at an impossible speed.

Something in her jaw gave with a sickening _crunch_ , and that something was small and smooth as it fell onto her tongue– _a tooth_ , she realized, a sob catching in her throat. _Oh god, that's my tooth._ She spat it out along with a thick red liquid that expelled itself from her jaw; she'd bitten through her cheek.

It hurt. It _really_ hurt. Her cheek throbbed, silently screaming in agony. Her back was on fire, her clothes wet with blood, and her heart was writhing, wanting so desperately to wish the hurt away, just a quick, easy wish-

 _No_ , Kimiko told herself with all the fierceness a ten-year-old could muster. She needed to save her wishes on things that would help her escape, and the gash on her back was shallow enough to miss anything important.

Her gaze turned to man that dared call itself _human_ ; a frail, fragile human with smooth unblemished skin.

 _I can change that._

And then the sob burst from her throat in a long, drawn-out wail as she drove the blade, her lifeline, forwards. She was crying as she flailed the knife about, outright shrieking and screaming her throat hoarse with her unending desperation and blinding terror. Her small frame wasn't built for grappling, but the knife gave it a lethal edge as it tore through flesh as easily as it would through butter.

Kimiko Midoriya wasn't vicious by nature, but she was fighting for life in her own tomb, flailing for air when there was none to be found. She was fully aware of the maddened haze that had enveloped her, but then a wisp of death stroked the edges of her mind and she found that she didn't really care.

 _Die, die, die_ , was the mantra roaring through her head as she jerked the knife back and adjusted her two-handed grip on the handle. She screamed again, the sound raw as it tore itself from her throat, and she drove the knife in- again, again, and again into his heart.

He might've been howling in pain, but it couldn't have trumped the ear-splitting screams that must've been exploding from her mouth; Kimi would never know, as it was all just a distant sound to her ears.

There was a sudden, terror-struck moment of hyper-focus when she heard the sound of hissing.

 _Move._

Kimi burst into movement, but her legs tangled around the snake that had wound itself around her. She jerked her feet away, breaking into a sprint. The fear gave her speed, though not grace, and it was all she could do to slide to a stop before she tumbled down a flight of stairs.

Kimiko glanced back. The serpent streaked towards her, its master not far behind.

She jumped.

The wind whizzed through her hair, ripping away her breath. She hit the ground hard, a ragged yelp bursting from her lips. Both legs twisted at awkward angles from the impact, and blind pain ricocheted up her knees.

The serpent carefully wound its way down the stairs, its sleek body rippling. The female villain followed after with murder in her eyes.

Kimi took several backwards steps, not quite daring to turn her back on the snake or the woman. Her heart was some rabid beast, roaring and trying to claw out its way out of her chest. The woman collected her serpent in her arms with a sort of loving caress. She smiled–

And _threw_ it.

The serpent's body flattened out, jaw unhinging as it latched itself onto Kimi's arm before she could react. In a blind panic, she swung the knife and lopped off the rest of its body.

The woman screamed.

The venom worked quickly, paralyzing the arm. She swung it with her shoulder, shaking off the snake, and broke into a run.

 _BANG._ The air rippled with movement, Kimi's eyes barely tracking a bullet that shot past her ear. Every step sent pain shooting up her leg into her hip, but sheer unadulterated fear sent her sprinting forward nonetheless.

Kimi ducked into another room – a kitchen? – and dove behind a counter. The villains had used the snake when they were trying to incapacitate her, but she didn't know of any non-lethal snake venom. It was probably slow-working paralysis venom that they had an antidote to.

Whatever it was, it had awoken the dormant power that now roared to life in her veins. It was less hope and more desperation that allowed her to wish, and feeling returned to her left arm. Just as quickly as it had come alive, her power mellowed, nearly completely drained.

One wish left.

There was the crisp _step-step-step_ of the woman's gait, and a quick peek around the corner revealed the dual pistols in each of her hands. Kimiko only had one shot at this, and she wasn't going to be able to get close to the woman any other way, so...

The knife fell from her fingers.

 _I want a gun._

A small pistol materialized and Kimiko gripped it with the same intensity she was using to cling to life. She stayed quiet, listening intently to the woman's footsteps.

"Come out or the venom kills you," the woman snarled. Kimi remained deathly still. There were several beats of silence as the villain counted off the seconds. With a frustrated exhale, she resumed her advance. "Damn brat… probably keeled over and died before I could rip her to–"

Kimi stood up and fired.

The woman had nearly rounded the corner of the counter before the bullet to the chest sent her toppling backwards. But Kimi wasn't ready for the recoil which sent the gun slamming backwards into her nose, blood gushing out in the next moment.

The dying villain scrambled for the pistols that had scattered across the floor, but Kimi kicked her down, shoving her gun into her gut.

"Don't move or I blow your insides out," she snarled, desperation turning her voice feral. Her back was burning, her nose and cheek screaming, and there was nothing in her world but pain– brilliant, agonizing _pain._

The woman said something pleading, but the roaring in Kimi's ears drowned it out. And it didn't matter what she said because she'd always planned to pull the trigger anyways. Villains were liars– they were _liars_ , and the woman was going to kill her no matter what.

And Kimi wasn't going to die, so she would.

Blood and guts exploded in an omnidirectional blast, a piece of flesh smacking into her face with a sickening _squelch_. Red sprayed everywhere, staining her world a fierce vermillion. Kimi screamed, her stomach heaving, dropping the gun as if it burned.

She ran. She kept running and running, every step bringing blinding agony, until she was out of this god-forsaken place.

She gasped in the air of the outside world like a drowning man; she gulped it down, drinking it in as if she would never get to again. Then she kept running, throwing her small body forwards; her heart was wishing, wishing desperately for someone, _anyone_ except those thrice-damned villains.

But there was no one.

Just Kimi.

She didn't get far before finally passing out.


	2. New Beginings

Maybe she'd always been broken and dark inside.

Looking back, it had been a mix of luck, her versatile quirk, and the villain's initial intent to incapacitate and not kill that had allowed her to survive that encounter.

 _Not to mention sheer desperation._

But as she grew older, and if – _when_ – she became a hero, the circumstances would change. They'd be less cocky and more vicious, more willing to kill– or worse. Kimiko didn't think she could handle being in a situation like that ever again.

She rolled over in the lumpy hospital bed, unable to maneuver herself into a comfortable position. The pillow remained flat and dense, giving her a headache after all that tossing and turning. Kimi threw it off the bed and twisted, bringing the covers with her.

The uncomfortable beds certainly didn't help with her consistent sleepless nights that left Kimi with a constant nagging feeling of snappishness and strain. Her bad mood was only aided by her sore throat and perpetually empty stomach, a result of her being unable to keep food down and vomiting it all back up.

But she couldn't help it; she still couldn't close her eyes without hearing the gunshot, without feeling the lump of flesh smacking her in the face, leaving a trail of warm blood smeared across her cheeks. And then her eyes would flash open, wide and unblinking as she quivered within her blanket.

And it was impossible to keep food down; it was soft and squishy and slick as it slid down her throat, then her stomach would heave and the food would all come rushing right back up, spilling across the pristine marble floor. ( _Like blood and guts,_ Kimi thought with a giggle. _A bang, and blood and guts pooling across the floor_ )

Feeling miserable, Kimi clutched the blanket tighter around her. Then a hand clamped down on her shoulder; a sudden jolt of _something_ sent her vision going white, and then there was a knife in her hands and she was _moving_ –

The doctor stumbled back, and Kimi froze, her hands fluttering to her mouth. "Oh...oh _god…_ "

 _There's something wrong with me._

They sent her to a new hospital after that. Inko Midoriya was in a frenzy, worrying over her daughter, but the visiting rules were stricter here. The doctors here asked strange questions –they called it _mental healing_ when she asked– but underneath the kind words, it all felt like an interrogation. The days became a whirl of motion, a torrent dragging her from one place to another while Kimi staggered about, trying to stay on her feet.

Then the doctors left and it was like a breath of fresh air. But Kimi quickly found herself growing bored and began to pace up and down the hallway, when she heard a muffled sobbing coming from an open door. Her feet moved towards it automatically and her hand pushed the door open further.

The soft crying stopped.

Well, she'd already come this far and just leaving now would be awkward, so Kimi walked in, ducking her head.

"H-hi." She stammered. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, but you sounded…sad."

With that, she raised her gaze to see a woman. Kimi's first impression was that she looked… _mismatched_. With her white hair and weary eyes, she looked old even while her skin was free of wrinkles, and otherwise appeared to be in her prime.

She was crying, but she was also smiling; smiling kindly even as tears dripped down her face. Unnerved, Kimi took a step back.

"No, no, it's alright." The woman said, voice soft. "It's good to have some company now and then."

"Why were you sad?"

Her eyes closed. "I miss my son."

Kimi wondered if he was dead. She wondered if he'd also had to hold a knife in his hands but chose to let it go, and for that he'd died. She wondered if his last thought before he was killed was _better now than having to do it to myself if I survived._

 _What the hell am I thinking?_

So instead, Kimi said, "Why doesn't he come visit you?"

"My son is very sad too, so he doesn't come," explained the woman, which actually made less sense. If he was sad, why would that make him not come? "But that's okay, I don't mind, if it makes him happier."

Kimiko still didn't think any of this made much sense, but the woman wasn't crying any more, which was good. There was a long pause, the silence expanding to fill the room.

"I'm Kimiko Midoriya, and I want to be a hero" she introduced. "Who are you?"

The woman breathed in and exhaled slowly. The motion seemed to fill her, mend the little rips and tears and smooth out the chips and cracks. She tilted her head up, quiet strength in her eyes. Kimi wondered if she could ever be that strong; so broken, but able to put herself back together.

"You can call me Mrs. Todoroki," she said, "You seem like a sweet girl."

Kimi blushed. "Thank you."

She shook her head, the smile still on her lips. "So, you want to be a hero, hm?"

Yes, if she wanted to be able to defend herself, to have the lawful _right_ to defend herself. There really wasn't much of a choice; Kimiko Midoriya was going to become a hero. But it was more than that; she didn't want anyone else to have to go through what she did.

No one else should have to go through that. She'd suffer so they won't.

Faced with this woman, all stunning contradiction and quiet strength, Kimi silently promised, _as long as I'm alive, no matter what, I will protect._

 _At all cost._

/~/

That was why, three and a half years later, her body was moving, running without her consent towards this amalgamation of sludge and grime.

Katsuki Bakugo wasn't her friend, far from it actually; he'd been the only one of the boys to tease her for her 'lack' of quirk, though she'd always quietly admired him for his strength and resolve, overlooking the cruder parts of his personality. But none of that had anything to do with it; maybe it was the haunting echo of that paralyzing terror, or maybe it was the trauma that came afterwards, but Kimi kept running, even when she'd regained control of her body.

 _Protect no matter what, at all costs._

There was fire everywhere, chips and shards scattered across the ground – _a shattered world_ – and Kimi ran straight through it all. The creature twisted, slime rippling and shifting with every movement. It _glared at her, an_ unworldly horribleness in its eyes.

 _Eyes_. Kimi wondered if people would see worse when they looked in hers. She wondered if they'd see how flesh peeled to reveal the tendons and muscle underneath, soft and raw. If they'd see how guts seeped through a tear in the body, like rotting maggots, swarming to escape.

She wanted him to see. She _wished_ it.

That amorphous collection of sludge stiffened in shock, but Kimi kept running (always running) even as a villain, twenty adults and the Symbol of Peace stood frozen in inertia. But it was all a blur, the world seemingly resting upon the tips of her fingers as her hand swept out, throwing her backpack and hitting the creature's eye. It reared back, releasing Bakugo's head for just a moment. With bared teeth and a scream, she saw the opportunity and seized it as she howled, " _BAKUGO!_ "

The boy glared back at her, a fierce, fiery pride burning in his eyes. He thrashed in its grip and jerked his chin upwards, snarling, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

 _I don't know I don't know I don't know-_

There was a golden blur and Kimi was shoved all the way to the sidelines. _A gun, a knife, and guts on the floor. A gun a knife and guts on the floor. A gun, a knife-_

"Have faith, for I am here!"

But All Might was here now and it was all going to be okay. Maybe she would have believed it, but Kimi was trapped in her own world, remembering how her body hurtled down the stairs, and how easily her tooth had given out and fallen onto her tongue.

She clawed at her face, her eyes, as if she could rip the memories right out of her flesh. She would forever taint the world with the cursed images suspended in her eyes; Kimi kept her head down, fearing what the others would see if they dared to look in. They should've taken her eyes. They _should've._

It was like being back in the hospital all over again, the nausea rushing back with every thought, accompanied by the heaving of her stomach. But it was all going to be okay, because All Might would take care of everything, he'd take care of everything and she'd never have to feel this way again.

(Maybe if she repeated it enough she would start to believe it)

All Might was here and it would be okay.

All Might was here and it would be okay.

 _All Might is here and it's all gonna be okay._

/~/

Later, Katsuki Bakugo would roar and scream that _"I didn't need to be fucking saved, you got that?!"_ , but Kimiko Midoriya was too busy thinking about guns and knives and what it meant to be a hero.

/~/

After the incident, All Might approached her in his 'true' form, and despite everything, Kimi felt a fangirlish excitement and the urge to squeal.

Looking solemn and completely unlike the forever optimistic act he put on, All Might crossed his bony arms and said, "After your history with villains, I didn't think you'd be so willing to charge straight towards another one."

Surprised, she blurted, "You know about that?"

"Kid, I'm All Might."

As if she needed to be reminded of the fact- a sizeable chunk of her wanted to fall to her knees and start profusely expressing her admiration, and she might have if not for the fact that it was awkward to answer questions while on your knees. And as for his question, Kimiko found herself at a loss. Why _did_ she do it?

Kimi felt a cynical smile cross her lips. "I…I guess I shouldn't have played at being a hero." Because as far as the world was concerned, Kimiko Midoriya was quirkless. And even if her far-too situational ability was recognized as a quirk, being able to summon a scrap of metal or change the color of a ball wasn't particularly hero-worthy.

Her bravado for three years… was it nothing but delusion? Her tricking herself that if she was smart enough, clever enough, even the weakest of 'quirks' could be used in combat? Tears started welling up in her eyes, but she was in the presence of All Might so she wouldn't cry, damnit!

But it was so utterly soul crushing, her realization. Maybe she'd needed a goal to cling onto when she was still going mad with nightmares and the memories, but now, there was nothing left for her to do but accept it.

The tears fell, new ones welling up in her cursed eyes to take their place, and Kimiko started crying, her breath stumbling with sobs bubbling in her throat. She cried while All Might watched, completely silent until–

"Do you know what all the greatest heroes have in common?" he asked.

Her breath hitched.

"Their bodies moved before they had a change to think," He told her quietly, blue eyes suddenly lighting up with an intense blaze. "Almost as if they'd moved on their own."

And through her sobbing, he said gently, "That's what happened to you today, Kimiko Midoriya."

Her heart throbbed, and Kimi fell to her knees, the sobs in her throat bursting through into one drawn out wail as she _cried_.

And that was how she was gifted with the quirk, One for All.

/~/

When Kimiko Midoriya ran, it was towards a better, brighter future. Sometimes it was a future where she was not dead, sometimes it was a future with Katsuki Bakugo alive, but this time the future was solid, given form and definitive shape.

U.A.

She still couldn't sleep, but this time it was from excitement. Her alarm blared to life but she was already awake, leaping out of bed and into her clothes. It wasn't until she actually set foot on the grounds that her old shyness kicked in.

Did she deserve this? Did she really deserve to go? The doubt didn't last long; if she wanted to live in peace, if she wanted _others_ to live in peace, and if she wanted to live up to All Might's expectations, she would _make_ herself worthy. Kimiko would just have to steel her nerves, suck it up, and thrive.

Perhaps if she'd taken the entrance exams, she'd be confident in her abilities, or confident in her lack thereof. Her technical knowledge and analytical abilities were outstanding, which was half of the battle for the official recommendation. But her lack of quirk instantly negated that, or it would have if not for the incident with the villain hideout.

The incident. It always came back to the incident. It was proof of her physical prowess and ability to think on her feet and was also listed as a great service to her community. That –the fact that she'd stabbed a person in the throat and shot another – was what guaranteed her a place in U.A.

Kimiko didn't want it anymore; not like this.

But she wasn't exactly going to _decline._

Since she was guaranteed a spot in, Kimiko decided to tour the school a day early. It was good to get some semblance of the layout and where everything was, how things worked, meet her teachers and all that. But mostly it was just for the sheer excitement of it, and since it was a weekend, Kimi could experience the school _all by herself_.

Except she couldn't. Because…

"So, Todoroki-kun, you, um, got recommended too?"

The red-and-white haired boy didn't even spare her a glance. "Obviously."

Three years had passed, but she could still hear her voice; _"You can call me Mrs. Todoroki, and I miss my son very much."_

Upon meeting him, Kimi had nearly gawked in astonishment, but barely managed to refrain. Shoto Todoroki looked nothing like his mother, who was all soft and gentle; the looks of a person who got whittled bare then built themselves back up to be better and stronger than before.

But Todoroki was all stiffness and jagged edge; he'd been worn down too, but instead of growing into it and rounding out, he honed the edge and bitterness, becoming sharp but brittle.

Kimiko could see it all with frightening clarity because she herself had come so very close to becoming one of the two; the 'villain incident' (as she'd taken to calling it) had left her raw and exposed. She could have softened herself, or grown sharp and cold, but instead she'd taken the beating, suffered, and _left_ herself raw and vulnerable. She wasn't quite ready to heal yet.

Kimiko glanced over as the door opened, and a girl fancily dressed girl strode in wearing… _very_ expensive looking clothes. "Hey," she greeted, a faint flash of surprise crossing her eyes. "I guess you guys got recommended too?"

Todoroki nodded and Kimi made a noise of assent. "I'm Kimiko Midoriya," she greeted. "Nice to meet you."

"Shoto Todoroki."

The girl smiled. "Momo Yaoyorozu. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Her eyes flashed across their surroundings and scanned the two, the dilating of her pupils showing the swiftness in which she absorbed the information.

Kimiko managed a small grin back. "The pleasure is all mine. So, you guys excited to come here?"

While Yaoyorozu seemed to struggle to find a way to voice her excitement, Kimi found herself drawn to the dark look that flitted across Todoroki's eyes. In a low voice, he said, "It is merely expected of me."

Kimiko paused for a moment, quieting. Then shrugged, "High expectations, huh? I mean I have them for myself, so I guess I'm not one to talk. But isn't it great, now that you're here?"

"The greatest hero academy," Yaoyorozu said fondly. "It's always been a dream of mine to attend."

Kimi's face broke out into a grin. "Same!"

"Have you always wanted to be a hero, Midoriya?"

"Kimiko's fine," she said. "And yup. Always."

"I used to want to be a lawyer as a child. Criminal lawyer. Can you believe it? I mean, what kind of five-year-old has a dream like _that_?"

Kimiko laughed. "A smart one."

"Yeah, well, I've always wanted to fight for justice and punish the 'bad guys' and all that. But I realized something." Here, a feral grin crossed Yaoyorozu's lips. "The most direct way to do that is to cut them down yourself."

Staring slightly at that declaration, she found that she agreed with Yaoyorozu. Is that not why she was here? To fight on the frontlines and cut the problem off at its root?

"I agree," said Todoroki.

Kimi glanced up. Every time he spoke, she felt herself stiffen slightly, but she wasn't quite sure why.

"Well wasn't this lovely," Yaoyorozu chirped. "C'mon, would you like to explore the rest of the school now? I'm curious to see just how big it is."

Kimi glanced at Todoroki. "This classroom _is_ rather dull."

He shrugged. "Okay."

Since it was on the way, they checked out the classrooms. They were all equally unremarkable, until Todoroki made an offhand comment about how unusually large the Support classroom was.

"He's right." Kimi said. "That's weird; they usually try to keep the classes balanced."

Here, a funny expression crossed Yaoyorozu's face. She took a deep breath. "Hey guys?"

"Yeah?"

"Have either of you looked into who our homeroom teacher will be?"

They both shook their heads.

"Shota Aizawa. He's the only teacher that doesn't do orientation day and instead gives a quirk assessment test and ranks you based on your results. Then he uses the rankings to organize a round of one-on-one matches."

"So?" said Todoroki.

"Well," said Yaoyorozu. "Turns out Shota Aizawa has another reputation."

"Which is?" Kimi prompted.

The other girl paused. "…You'll find out. In any case, are you guys interested in hearing a proposition?"

"Uh, sure?"

"My idea is that we set each other up in the rankings so we can be the ones to fight each other; just a little friendly competition. Doesn't that sound interesting?"

Todoroki stared, unimpressed. "I see two immediate problems with that,"

Yaoyorozu sighed. "Yeah, I know. The only way we can reliably control that is if someone came first and another placed last. I was thinking, to make it more fair to the last place person, whoever's first won't be able to go on the offensive for the first fifteen seconds.

"There's also three of us."

"True," she agreed. "We can't all fight each other, so the two who aren't going to flunk can compete for first instead. Little bit of competition for everybody."

Todoroki shrugged, though the intensity in his eyes betrayed his eagerness. "That's what I planned to do anyways, so fine. As long as I'm not the one going last."

"Oh that's alright, I'll-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kimiko interrupted. "Hang on, what's the point of this? Why should one of us sabotage ourselves?"

"Competition." Todoroki breathed, as if the word explained the emotions that drove the two to yearn for the fight.

"And if the other two don't manage to get first?"

He tilted his head, letting his hair fall from his eyes to reveal a piercing gaze. "Midoriya," he said softly. "I don't lose."

"Well you'll be losing to me one way or another," Yaoyorozu threw in teasingly.

"No."

"Ah, we'll see."

Kimiko wasn't competitive by nature, but they'd thrown in a benefit; fifteen seconds of attacking an opponent who can't attack back.

If the test was indeed split into two parts, Kimi couldn't afford to use up her wishes on the first part and therefore couldn't come first. She'd score on the lower side anyways, and if she agreed, she'd also get fifteen seconds to tip the battle in her favour.

"I accept," said Kimi. "And I'll go last."

Yaoyorozu tilted her head. "You sure? I-"

"I'm sure. I'm very, _very_ sure."

Kimi thought she saw some hesitation in her eyes, but it was gone in the next moment. Yaoyorozu clapped her hands together cheerfully. "Alright! Now let's finish the tour!"

/~/

They talked about villains and heroes and quirks, and it was all Kimi could do to not bombard them with her overwhelming (and borderline obsessive) knowledge. Yaoyorozu was charismatic and easy to get along with, and Kimi felt herself relaxing into the conversation. The other girl spoke casually, yet in a style that was still proper and elegant. She was also terribly smart.

Todoroki was the polar opposite. He didn't say much, but wasn't exactly cold or unresponsive. Just quiet.

They finished the tour (and their debate on their fictional villain hostage situation, which ended in a standstill). Yaoyorozu left first in a black limousine, throwing them a cheery wave. She had, in all honesty, been the one carrying the conversation, and Kimi now braced for the awkward silence.

 _Ah, quick, think of something to say._ "So, Todoroki, how'd you get recommended?" Yeah, that was good.

"I'm the child of Endeavor."

Wait.

 _child_ of _Endeavor_? Kimi felt her jaw drop. Endeavor wasn't as cool as All Might, but only because no one was as cool as All Might. She wanted to gush, but he didn't seem like the type to appreciate it, so she contained her amazement.

"That's _really_ cool," she settled for saying. "I just got super good grades, you know?"

He glanced at her, one eye red and the other an icy blue. "I can tell."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

He snorted. "I was impressed by your ability to vomit pure information."

So she hadn't held back her rambling tendencies as much as she'd thought. Kimi blushed in embarrassment, but then she caught the small, teasing smile that flitted across his lips. Her eyes flickered upwards, tracing the ugly splotch of scarred flesh around his blue eye. Almost as if he could feel her gaze, Todoroki turned away.

"Yeah, sorry about that?" she said a little awkwardly. "Okay, um, I was wondering what your quirk was?"

"I can summon and create ice with my right side."

She blinked. "I thought you said your dad was-"

"That too." Todoroki bit out, a snap to his voice. "But I only use ice." He'd turned back towards her, pinning her with both, strikingly colored eyes. They were clouded with emotion, and his voice was laced with danger, warning her not to press.

Kimi didn't press.

 _Then_ there was an awkward silence, but it thankfully didn't last long as her mom's car pulled up in front of her. Kimiko stood up abruptly, trying to find an eloquent way to part ways, like 'bye' or something.

But instead, the words that had been clawing at her throat from the moment she saw him burst out, and Kimi didn't quite manage to stop them from escaping her lips.

"Your mother missesyouverymuch, bye!"

And she practically jumped into her car, ducking her head to avoid looking at the scowl that had twisted his face, as well as the dangerously dark look in his mismatched eyes.

/~/

 **A/N.** Ah, Todoroki was such an angry boi in the beginning. Drop a review and tell me what you think?


	3. Todoroki (I)

Kimiko was ready to fight.

It'd been three and a half years since she'd felt the rush of battle; that thundering of her heart sending bolts of energy surging through her with each beat, the singing of her blood and the roaring in her head. True, she'd never want the circumstances to be the same as 'the villain incident', but something in her yearned to see how she'd fare now, when the stakes weren't as high as _death_.

But then she opened the door, and the sea of unfamiliar faces sent a nauseous feeling churning in her stomach. Kimi scanned the rows of desks, spotted Todoroki, and made her way over to him.

"Hey." She waved.

He cast her a lazy glance. "Midoriya."

Despite his curt tone, Kimi felt a bit of the anxiety within her dissipate at the familiar face. A slow smile blossomed across her face. "I hope you weren't planning on winning, by the way."

"Scared?" His voice was laced with cool amusement.

"Because I'd hate to annihilate your hopes and dreams."

He snorted and turned away. Kimi felt herself grin. _What the hell, I think I'll give this competitive thing a go._

She was content to sit in silence, absorbing the atmosphere. There was excited chatter buzzing around the room, individual conversations merging into a single noise that Kimi drank in hungrily, along with the desks, the walls, _everything_. The whole scene was dreamlike; she was _here_ , in U.A. This feeling was something that a simple tour couldn't capture; it was more _special_ in a way that she couldn't describe.

Bakugo's ferocious gaze struck her out of her mystified state, and Kimi realized she'd zoned out on him. A different kind of tension gripped her, one twisted by something dark and ugly; she thought about apologizing but couldn't find it in herself to actually mean it.

" _How the hell did you of all people get an official recommendation?!" Bakugo snarled, roughly shoving her against the wall. Kimi felt her head smack against the hard cement, the whiplash making her see stars._

" _Bakugo, wait, I can explain-"_

" _You must've cheated somehow – bribed someone, didn't you?" His calloused hand held her in place, an iron grip on the hem of her shirt. "Don't think I won't hit you because you're a girl!_ I _was supposed to be the only one from this crappy school to make it! But you just had to screw that up!"_

 _"Let me go." The feeling of being cornered, trapped, roused a long-buried panic in her. Her breathing quickened._

 _Bakugo snarled, his vice-like grip only tightening as he pressed her harder against the wall. "Tell me what you did!" He got right up to her face, baring his teeth. Kimiko felt a sense of claustrophobia kick in._

 _"Let me go," she whispered, voice shaking._

 _"Shut the fuck up!"_

A gun, a knife and guts on the floor. _The mantra started, a quiet murmur bubbling in her chest._ A gun, a knife, and guts on the floor. _It was a soft chanting in her head, a firm order, a_ promise _._

" _A gun," she whispered, feeling cold metal slide into her hand. She breathed, "A knife," and a six-inch steel appeared in her other. A wicked smile slashed across her lips as Kimi pressed the gun against Bakugo, something burning in her chest as she whispered, "And guts on the floor."_

 _Bakugo stiffened, his grip tightening in surprise. Gun, knife, guts on the floor; the mantra burned itself into her mind, a feeling of hot liquid oozed from the words and crept into her mouth, onto her tongue, searing and burning._

 _Kimi gave the gun a sharp push into him, sweetly cooing,_ " _Get the hell away from me."_

Evidently, they _had_ been reliving the same memory as Bakugo's snarling face twisted into something even less pleasant, his lips pulling back to show teeth. Kimi shrunk back under his gaze, her previous bravado nowhere to be found.

"Shallow perception and heavily lacking awareness," an icy voice drawled. Heads swiveled toward the man in the room _–_ the man that certainly hadn't been there before. He had a lanky form, limp locks of black hair framing his face, and his arm clutched something that suspiciously resembled a sleeping bag.

Cold, disparaging eyes flickered across the classroom. "I stood here unnoticed for exactly thirty-five seconds. If I were a villain, something would be dead." He stalked around the desks, making his way to the front of the room causing Kimi's heart to sink; _this_ was her teacher?

Unaware, or simply uncaring of the startled, judging eyes, the man absentmindedly let the sleeping bag fall at his side, those onyx eyes never leaving the students as they roved across faces with a disapproving gaze.

"My name is Shota Aizawa," he said. "And I'll be teaching some of you."

The class, who'd been shocked into silence, burst into conversation. A boy with a tail called out, "Only some?" and the class hushed.

The man eyed him for a good long moment, almost gleefully allowing the sudden quiet to swell into an anticipatory silence. Then he said, "Those of you who earn your spot here."

Kimiko caught Yaoyorozu's eye, giving her a nod. _You were right._

His gaze landed on a blue-haired boy with glasses who'd been quarreling with Bakugo earlier. He tossed him a pile of blue fabric, which the boy shot up from his seat to catch.

"Pass that around."

The boy actually _saluted._ "Yessir!"

They were shirts; a gym uniform of sorts. The class was sent to change into them then made their way outside. On the way, Yaoyorozu drifted towards Kimi, murmuring, "Second thoughts?"

About being last? "None," she replied firmly. It was a calculated decision.

"Alright," said Aizawa. "You'll be competing in a quirk assessment test."

"What?" A girl cried, her large brown eyes widening in an almost naïve disbelief. Choppy brown hair fell around her indignant face. "Then we'll miss orientation!"

Her teacher scoffed. "U.A. didn't get to be the top school by following tradition; this is my class and I run it the way I want, and we don't have time to waste on such frivolous events. Here, what I say, goes."

Contrary to the tense atmosphere Kimi was practically bursting with anticipation and energy. Kimi had missed the entrance exam, but now she had another chance to show the world what she could do. To show them all that she deserved to be a hero.

"Any problems?" Aizawa sneered. "Good. Now you've all taken standardized tests, but with quirks restrictions since the Ministry of Education appears to be harboring some delusion that all men are created equal. They sabotage the potential of the powerful in a pitiful attempt to keep things _fair._ Well, power-hungry villains that attack children aren't fair. Nor are catastrophic events that raze cities. Bakugo," he called sharply. "What's your farthest distance throw with a softball?"

"Sixty-seven meters."

He tossed him a softball. "Try it with your quirk."

He strode forwards, winding up his arm as he fell into a crouching stance. Bakugo's face contorted into a leer as he hurled the softball, an explosion blasting from his palms that sounded too close to a gunshot for Kimiko's liking.

705.2 meters.

Aizawa waited for the ruckus that erupted to quiet down before declaring, "Eight physical tests to rank you. One-on-one matches based on the rankings to gauge the combat potential of your quirk." His lips parted in a nasty grin. "Students who appear to have a more support-oriented quirk will be transferred to the Support class."

There were a series of shocked gasps. _There were far too many desks in the Support class,_ Kimi remembered. _They're expecting him to transfer a whole bunch of us._

"Also," he continued. "The one who's potential I deem lowest will be expelled."

"What?!" The brunette from before exclaimed. "We already got in; you can't do that! It's not fair!"

"I thought we've already established that fairness is an illusion." Aizawa remarked, that nasty grin still plastered to his face. "Shall we begin?"

/~/

Kimiko was a fast runner, so she made sure to slow her pace in the 500m dash to add time. For the rest, it wasn't hard to completely suck without a quirk. At one point, Aizawa rested his eyes on her for a beat too long, a thoughtful tint to his eyes, and Kimi met his gaze steadfastly. He turned away after that.

After the tests were all over, the students gathered round their teacher, equal parts excited and terrified. Aizawa pulled up the results. "Alright, take a good look at where you place. Matches will pair the first with the last, second with the second last and so on."

"But that gives a spectacular advantage to those who scored higher!" The brown-eyed brunette, (Uraraka, Kimi discovered) complained. "That's unfa-" She cut herself off, flushing with embarrassment.

But Kimi was barely listening. Her eyes were glued to Todoroki's name in the first place slot, then shifted to her own, in last. She exhaled, the tension rolling off her body, and allowed herself to look over the rest of the list. Yaoyorozu had come second, but Kimi was sure that it had been a close battle; both she and Todoroki had performed brilliantly.

"For the matches, a win is a knockout or pushing your opponent outside the boundaries. If you're unconscious, don't worry, Recovery Girl will forcibly revive you to hear your result," said Aizawa. "The matches are as follows: Shoto Todoroki and Kimiko Midoriya, Momo Yaoyorozu and Minoru Mineta, Katsuki Bakugo and Toru Hagakure…"

He went on to list every matchup, but Kimi had stopped listening from the moment her match was confirmed, a sharp breath expelling from her body.

But she steeled herself again; the hard part was yet to come. Todoroki's eyes were narrowed, his expression flat, and Kimi thought about what he said about only using ice. Was it arrogance, saying that he didn't need to use his father's legacy to win? Or was it something else?

Whatever it was, Kimi was going to press that advantage in any way possible. _His right side is the ice side; I'll attack from the left._

Aizawa explained the boundaries of the match and the restrictions; _no fatal blows, no permanent injuries, though feel free to do some light maiming,_ but it was all just distant chatter in her head; Kimi felt impossibly light, the world around her bleeding away into the background as the familiar feeling of the fight seeped in.

Six wishes: that was her maximum. Her standard repertoire consisted of short distance teleportation, creation, and body enhancement. More demanding ones costed two and basic ones costed a half. Like her notebooks on heroes, every tool she had at her disposal was methodically categorized within her mind, and Kimiko wasn't aiming to just survive this time.

She was going for the win.

Kimiko was flashing forwards from the moment the word "Begin" fell from Aizawa's lips. She covered the distance in a single sweep, calling up that ancient power from her veins. It purred, coming alive with a rush of cold energy. Half a wish was spent sending a burst of power to her legs and the other half summoning her knife to her hands.

It was the same six-inch knife ( _a gun, and guts on the ground_ ) from the 'villain incident' and it rested with a painful familiarity in her hands. Todoroki's eyes widened, the whites of his eyes showing as he almost _tumbled_ away from her first strike. Kimi pressed her advantage with the ferocity of one who'd learned that to hesitate meant to die.

 _A gun, a knife, and guts on the floor. A gun, a knife-_

It was the same fight; the same, familiar steps to this bloody dance that Kimiko had been forced to perform. Her eyes were locked on his heart, the blade clasped in her hands driving forwards, reflecting the shine of the sun. Todoroki sidestepped, trying to maneuver his way around her, but Kimi coiled with feline flexibility and exploded to streak low to the ground, slashing at his legs.

 _If he can't walk,_ a sing-song voice chirped, _then he can't kill you._

The feeling of a knife sinking into flesh never came as Todoroki jumped directly upwards, tucking his legs close to his chest. He landed away, but his weight was on his heels. Unable to dodge in time, he brought up an arm to block a right hook from Kimi.

 _Five seconds left until he can attack._

Todoroki danced backwards, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. Three seconds to close the distance; three seconds to do her damn best to finish this. She let herself simmer in the coolness of her power.

Kimi threw the knife forwards and _wished_ herself next to him, fingers closing around the thrown knife the moment she materialized and bringing it down-

Only to throw herself aside as a spear of ice shot from the ground.

 _Get away, get away, get away!_ Spurred on by panicked emotion, the third of her six wishes was spent teleporting herself aside. A pointless wish: she could have dodged that. Cursing softly, Kimi eyed the pillar of ice that had shot from the ground.

 _He can manipulate ice across the ground, even when it's away from his body._ She filed that away, focusing on bridging the distance between them; she was at a disadvantage here, a short-range attacker trapped long-range.

Wish four sent a sensation akin to an electric current along her body, jostling her nerves and muscles to improve reaction time. It saved her, allowing her to just barely snap away the next burst of ice. It continued to barrel forwards even after she dodged, before stopping to explode outwards. _He can't change the direction after it's been fired,_ Kimi realized. _The ice can't swerve._

Knowing that, Kimiko hurtled straight towards him. Her boosted reaction time allowed her to weave around his barrage of spear-like icicles, but they were quickly followed by a crashing wave of ice. Kimi wished, and a shield was sent flying into the before being suspended above the ground, devoured by the frost.

If Todoroki wanted to hit her, he'd have to blast a new beam which would take time; perhaps only a few seconds, but that was all she needed

An offhand thought drained the last of her hope, boosting power to her legs, and Kimiko's world streaked into a blur. But she'd been too focused on his quirk; she hadn't anticipated the _wicked_ right hook that sent her head reeling and her body tumbling to the ground.

 _Then_ the ice came with a terrifying swiftness, the sound of crackling filling the air as it broke through the ground. Kimi tried to do something, _anything,_ but her mind blanked and then her body was encased in the ice.

Her head, the only part of her that was free to move, jerked over to stare at Aizawa. Her emerald eyes were burning, blazing, demanding him to _don't stop the match, please, I'm not done here-_

Aizawa held up both hands, all fingers outstretched. _Ten seconds._

Kimi gritted her teeth and strained, but to no avail.

As she struggled, his words floated to mind; "… _matches based on the rankings to gauge the combat potential of your quirk…"_ Combat potential. Not winning, not beating your opponent into the ground with fists or maiming with knives, but how suited your quirk was for combat. Kimiko's mind raced, going over what she'd presented- _teleporting things, creating things,_ and with a rush of panic, she realized that her quirk appeared _perfect_ for the Support class.

A chill washed through her body, and it wasn't from the ice around her. It was that voice again, the undercurrent in her mind murmuring, _what about you, what about you, what about you, Kimiko Midoriya?_

What about her was so special? What about her made her deserve to be here? Everyone else had taken the entrance exam, or had a thorough skill-analysis for a recommendation- but what about _her_?

She couldn't find an answer, and she threw her almost childish frustration against the ice, hoping her rage burned hot enough for it to melt. But it died quickly, and she fell limp within the cage of sheer cold. Her power was fueled by hope and desire. Using it up meant apathy.

Aizawa's counting registered dully in her mind. She tried to collect her emotions, tried to motivate herself to _try_. But the emotional exhaustion was too much; there was no wishing, no hope, nothing but Kimiko Midoriya, wallowing in despair as her last five seconds ticked by.

 _Five._ She didn't want to fail.

 _Four._ She wanted to be a hero.

 _Three._ She wanted to be strong. Strong enough to never despair again.

 _Two._ She wanted to be a hero, so nobody else would have to feel that way either.

 _One._

All Might had put his faith in her, and she wasn't going to let him down.

That thought was the trigger that burst the dam, and pure, unadulterated _power_ surged through her veins, enhancing her body, her mind and mental fortitude, her resolve and her _hope._

 _One for All- I can feel it!_

Hope; the fuel for three wishes. Her mind; a broken thing that had learned to artificially stimulate emotion. And her body; the weapon she'd honed to execute her desires.

As raw power exploded in her veins, all three components surged to godlike levels and Kimiko Midoriya screamed, sheer _want_ blasting through her body, and the kingdom of ice around her shattered.

Her scream warped into a howl, as the roaring, raging power shrieked alongside her from within, helping blast her body forwards and wishing the ice towards her to disappear, to veer off to a side, to _get out of my way, damnit!_ But Todoroki had the presence of mind to switch tactics, shooting ice from underneath him and pushing him up into the sky.

 _I want to be there._

Kimiko appeared on the ice platform, lunging forwards for a punch, but Todoroki slapped her hand away and rammed a fist into jaw, and her world whirled, flashes of memory blinding her.

She thought she felt a tooth fall onto her tongue, _felt_ it with a disturbing realism, but there was nothing there, nothing but the ghost of a memory. The shock was enough for Todoroki to shove her off the ice platform but Kimiko twisted in midair and disappeared, reappearing on the ground.

The living, writhing power of One for All pounded loud enough to drown out her heartbeat; it was a symphony, and she would execute its song.

A tranquilizer gun blinked into existence, curled within her fingers. The sheer power of One for All made up for her lack of knowledge, interpreting her wish for _something to end this, but not kill_ in its own, messed up way. Of course it would be a gun, it was always a gun ( _a knife, and guts on the floor-_ ).

She wished again, another vague wish, thinking about falling dreams and collapsing empires, and the ice pillar before her came crashing down. Todoroki was forced to vault off it, more glistening frost roaring into existence to ease his fall.

He landed, but she'd flashed directly behind him, dangerously close. The gun in her hands jerked upwards, almost of its own volition but it was Kimiko and Kimiko alone that pulled the trigger.

The dart landed. It _landed!_

The triumph barely managed to circulate through her body when something brilliantly bright caught her eye, reflecting the blinding rays of the sun. Todoroki snarled, a blast of ice slammed into her, and Kimiko fell.

She _fell_.

She fell, the darkness claiming her as her eyes closed.

/~/

Shota Aizawa glanced at the unconscious bodies of his two students, then over at where All Might 'hid', watching in attempted secrecy.

He sighed. "Kimiko Midoriya was the first to pass out, so Shoto Todoroki wins. Yaoyorozu, Mineta, get on the field. Someone drag these two away."


	4. Todoroki (II)

Kimiko woke up feeling like shit.

 _Ack, I've picked up Bakugo's language. Well, it couldn't have been helped…_

She glanced around, the miniscule movement enough to send the room spinning into a blur. She closed her eyes. Her insides felt ravaged, sensitive and raw. Kimiko tried for a soft whining noise, but her throat was too scorched.

Her body had gotten a lot stronger during her training for One for All, but its uncontrolled and unleashed presence was still too great to contain. And she didn't just feel drained physically; her mind felt scattered, unable to string together a coherent thought. Emotions other than pain seemed beyond her, her heart suspended in a frozen state of apathy. Optimism was little more than a foreign concept, so wishing was nigh impossible. Kimi couldn't even muster the want for the pain to go away, just bearing it with a resigned wince.

"You're awake," came a smooth baritone voice.

Kimi managed a side-ways glance with a slight angle of the head. After her world steadied again, she saw Todoroki sitting up in his hospital bed, staring at his hands. Her mind still felt foggy, but she was pretty sure he was talking to her.

"I feel like shit." Kimi rasped, echoing her thoughts.

"You don't sound much better either." He said. _Wow, thanks_. "Recovery Girl left some water near your bed; she left to take care of some idiot who expelled too much electricity and short-circuited."

Kimi closed her eyes and slowly shifted her head to where the water would be, then opened them. She'd have to move her upper body to get her arm to reach it, which sounded exceptionally tiring. "I'm good, thanks."

With an irritated sigh and a creak of the bed, Todoroki walked over and handed her the water. "Here."

Kimi raised her head slightly to take small sips off the surface of the water, making an effort for it to not go down her windpipe; coughing would be very tiring. "Thank you. And, um…good game?"

He made a soft noise of acknowledgement. "Right, the competition. I'm sure that you're aware of Yaoyorozu's ulterior motives?"

Kimi blinked. "No, actually."

"Really. Well, I'm sure you can figure it out."

"Thinking is physically painful right now," she said. "Enlighten me."

"Her quirk creates matter. Support creates equipment. She must've amassed information on Aizawa's test ahead of time and was insecure in her combat potential."

"Fifteen seconds to show off your quirk for whoever's last," Kimi remembered. "And she was very eager to go last. Yaoyorozu did strike me as scarily intelligent."

"Yeah." A sudden awkwardness seemed to dawn on him, and Todoroki glanced away. "Kimiko, I… I wanted to talk to you. About my mother."

"…Oh."

"You saw her? Talked to her?"

She thought about her quiet strength, hidden behind tears and a sad smile, and said, "Yeah, I ran into her in the hospital. She…" Her voice wavered. "She does miss you. A lot."

Todoroki made a small noise, apparently not sure what to do with that information. Kimi thought that his hand might've been tracing the scar around his eye, but she wasn't sure as her vision had blurred. His demeanor going cold, Todoroki straightened, saying curtly, "I'll be outside watching the matches."

And he strode out the door without another word.

She didn't contemplate it; Kimi was perfectly content to close her eyes and let exhaustion drive her into unconsciousness.

…And the next time she awoke was with consciousness being _pushed_ through her body, and the face of an old lady hovering above her.

"Just so you know," she said, "I don't agree with forcing my resting patients conscious."

There was a sudden realization and Kimi gasped, "The results!" Suddenly, she was flooded with emotion, driving back the apathy. She started shifting, slowly but surely rising from the bed despite protests from the old lady- Recovery Girl, presumably.

"I can have you carried out on a stretcher; I don't want you walking in that condition." She said sternly. "What the actual hell didja do to your body? And just for an exam?"

"I want to walk out there and hear it for myself." Kimi said. Her face scrunching in strain, she managed to totter a few steps. "I want to do it on my own."

Perhaps she was just sentimental, but this was a strangely important decision to her; Kimi wanted to crawl out relying on just herself to hear if she made it; getting pulled out on a stretcher just wasn't the same. As long as she could move, Kimi wasn't going to let others carry her weight. Not for this.

Recovery Girl must've seen the determination in her eye, because with a resigned sigh and a comment about _"foolish stubborn students"_ , she ceased her protests, simply watching Kimi's progress as she stumbled for the door. Her legs ached, every muscle, every fiber of her being on fire as she walked. But Kimi wasn't giving up; she pushed and pushed, her trembling fingers closing around the doorframe to steady herself.

Then she fumbled; a small, seemingly insignificant movement but it sent her world abruptly tumbling onto its side, and Kimiko scrambled for a solid grip on the door. But her fingers slid past the doorknob and she was falling, the world spinning, and she felt her body slam against the cold marble floor-

There was a flash of darkness, and dancing stars.

Then she was back on her bed, splayed out with a cover being draped over her body. "I told you it was a bad idea," scolded Recovery Girl. "The damage must be worse than I thought."

 _I…I'm not going to be there for the results?_ The thought was numbing, a sort of disbelieving fog washing over her. _I wanted to…I wanted to be there…_

"Now, now, it's not the end of the world," warbled Recovery Girl. "Here, I'll go out and personally retrieve your results, provided you don't do anything foolish while I'm gone. Does that seem like a good deal?"

She didn't _really_ have a choice did she? A little sullen, Kimi muttered, "Fine."

/~/

Shoto Todoroki hadn't thought about his mother in a long time, and he wasn't about to start now.

Asking had been a moment of weakness, curiosity temporarily dominating rational thought; it wouldn't happen again. He felt shaky- only more proof that knowledge of her wouldn't give closure; it only sowed chaos within him.

 _She really does miss you._

Those words mere words sent the castle of ice protecting his sanity tumbling down; his own little house of cards falling and crashing to the ground. But he didn't _know_ what to feel; his emotions warred- a messy, gruesome battle. It was unsettling how easily his mental structure had shattered.

With those few words, Kimiko Midoriya had ripped the veil from his eyes, revealing the bloody war within him in all its glory.

So Todoroki walked out of that room. He _ran_ , because somewhere deep inside him he knew he only ever ran from his problems.

An explosion of darkness drew his attention to the fight before him; Tokoyami's Dark Shadow sped towards Sero, snapping through his tape and throwing him out of bounds.

Bakugo's match had been a more complicated since the invisible girl was able to remove her clothing before the match. But the melted ice from Todoroki's own match had left the ground soft, and the girl's footsteps left indents in the ground which Bakugo used to locate her.

The rest of the matches became monotonous, and Todoroki found himself zoning out. His thoughts flashed to the image of round emerald eyes and curly forest-green hair, and a spark of anger went off in his chest.

 _I'm being irrational,_ _h_ e thought, telling himself he was associating the memory of Midoriya with the emotions of his father. He made an effort to pry the two subjects apart.

Kimiko Midoriya was an oddity in his life. Todoroki had taken her for being a shy, textbook-perfect scholar and had responded with a mild disdain when she explained how she'd won her recommendation.

 _"I just got good grades and stuff, you know?"_

 _"I can tell."_

He couldn't be faulted in his assumption; Midoriya certainly didn't _look_ like a fighter. But the meek shyness seemed to disappear in battle (and when she was delirious with pain, apparently). And the pure viciousness with which she'd rushed him had left his head reeling in shock.

The knife completed the picture of a snarling, feral animal. It evoked a soft of fear different from being faced with fire, ice, or an explosive blast. It was a silent, deadly deliverer of death, unbefitting of a hero, and Kimi wielded it with an unsettling familiarity.

And the gun; he hadn't realized it was a tranquilizer at first and it had caused _something_ to overtake his body in a single rush. His final, winning burst of ice had been purely instinctual, a culmination of nerves, reflex, and adrenaline borne from a primal sense of self-preservation.

He'd come so dangerously close to _losing_ _._

Todoroki stilled. The feeling of cold defeat brushed past him, leaving an icy emptiness in its wake. That… that was not a sensation he was familiar with, not after he'd gone all-out against someone his age.

 _"You sabotage your potential when you restrict your left side."_

He gritted his teeth. Ah yes. _Father_. He truly did embody fire, for the very thought of him made Shoto Todoroki want to _burn._

He let his attention drift as the matches slowly ended. Everyone gathered around their teacher, save for Midoriya (who honestly was in no shape to be going anywhere) and Aizawa had that wretched smirk on his face, dispassionate eyes taking on a cruel light.

"It is to my terrible disappointment to announce…" He trailed off, pausing for a dramatic beat. "That no one will be expelled!"

A relieved but befuddled chatter broke out through the students and Todoroki relaxed, though he wouldn't have been the one to be expelled anyways. He snuck a glance at Yaoyorozu, who was tense, her mouth set in a grim line. _Curious._

Aizawa smirked. "That was just a rational deception- save your indignance for someone who cares." There was a burst of outrage. "However," he continued, ignoring the shouting, "There is still the matter of the transfers."

All conversation dropped dead.

"Toru Hagakure."

There was a despairing wail, but Aizawa's voice snapped right through. "You did not display any combat potential with your quirk, being nearly instantly taken out by Bakugo."

"No, _please-_ "

"However, I recognize that your misfortune is partially due to the environmental circumstances set by Midoriya and Todoroki's match. It is my rational opinion that with proper training and preparation, you are capable of excelling at combat, specifically in infiltration and assassination."

The girl, or what was visible of her, slumped in relief, sobbing, "Oh, thank you, thank you, sensei-"

But Aizawa was already tearing into the next student with a viciousness. "Minoru Mineta. Your match was tragic to the point of becoming comedy. Once presented with opposition, you panicked, flailing your quirk around like a toddler. No control. No discipline." He punctuated each word with a crisp step forwards until he was towering over the small boy. Though his quirk wasn't activated, his eyes were alight with power.

"You will be transferred to the Support class, where I recommend you pursue a stalling and trapping approach. Consider it a miracle that you have not been expelled." He swept that burning gaze across the rest of the class, which seemed suspended in its own little sideways world of shock.

"No, wait!"

Todoroki's head swiveled sharply to see Midoriya stumbling forwards, her movements awkward and wobbly, but it was with pride and determination that she held herself before Aizawa and said-

"I object."

/~/

Narrowed eyes pinned her into place, as Shota Aizawa slowly pronounced, "Ex _cuse_ me?"

Kimiko resisted the urge to quail under his gaze and forced herself to meet it evenly. "I object to your reasoning."

There was a beat of silence where the entire class seemed to be holding their breath.

"I don't think you understand the situation, Midoriya," drawled Aizawa- slowly, deliberately. "The decision wasn't up for debate."

"The hell are you doing?" she heard Todoroki hiss, and the common sense part of her mind started shrieking something along those lines. But Kimi's mouth kept _moving_ , and she kept speaking because she couldn't just sit by and let this happen _._

"You overlook certain factors," she started, mind racing and scanning for _anything_ to scrap together into a cohesive argument. She'd seen Mineta throw a purple ball he'd plucked off his head, and it had stuck to the ground without rolling or bouncing. Adhesive purple balls. That's it? Maybe he did deserve to fail.

 _You're one to judge quirks._ Her mind sneered. _You were planning to get in_ without _one as a kid._

But that wasn't important right now; Aizawa was still burning holes into her head, waiting for an answer. She opened her mouth to try for something reasonable, but what crawled out was: "Maybe you just lack creativity, because his combat potential is pretty damn obvious." No, no, no, pissing off the teacher was _not_ going to help her case.

 _Adhesive balls. I really don't have much to work with here._ Kimi racked her brain, trying to envision her problem from a billion different angles. Except spheres looked the same from every angle, as did her conundrum. In every way, her teacher appeared correct.

Exactly _which_ damned part of her had thought this was a good idea?

"I lack creativity, do I?" Aizawa tilted his head. "Do enlighten me. And it better be amusing."

"I don't know about amusing, but I do understand rationalizing," Kimiko retorted. "And rationality involves thoroughly examining your own method of judgement and approaching the subject from a variety of angles, or else you've drawn a conclusion based on inconclusive evidence." _What the hell am I saying?_ "In your case," she went on, "You narrow your perception of combat to be purely the direct kind, like the one-on-one fights we participated in today. And, _ah_ …"

 _Damnit, I was onto something. Something to divert the problem, change the focus and present the case in a new light._

"Do go on."

She squeezed her eyes shut and said, "Combatdoesn'thavetobetothedeath."

Aizawa sneered. "Do try to be coherent."

Kimiko felt her face flush, but the idea had struck her like a bolt of lightning. "I mean, the goal of engaging in combat isn't necessarily to incapacitate your opponent. There's also escape," Her thoughts flashed to the 'villain incident'. "Rescue, capture, stalling and such. Those aren't purely Support objectives; if you want to achieve those goals, sometimes the only way to do so is to _fight_. And different objectives lead to different styles of fighting that may not be suitable for _beating_ your opponent, which you overlooked."

"Oh?"

"In Mineta's case, he could fight to stall or distract- sabotage, if you will. But he'd do so by utilizing his power over the flow of combat, using his quirk to reduce the movement and locomotion of his opponent. But he would be _in the midst of the fight_ , which vastly separates him from the Support."

At the end, Kimiko was trembling, her limbs feeling weak and shaky. _What the hell did I just do- oh crap, I just lectured a teacher, what the_ hell _did I_ do _?!_ More than a little hesitantly, she lifted her gaze.

Aizawa waved his hand through the air. "Whatever," he intoned, "You've convinced me. He can stay."

Kimi blinked. "Wait, that's it?" His eyes narrowed in annoyance and she backtracked frantically, saying, "I mean, not that I have a problem with that or anything- it's just that I was expecting, I dunno, a little more resistance? I'm not asking for it, I just meant, _argh,_ don't mind me, I was just-"

"Midoriya. Stop."

And then there was a thump as Mineta fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face and a bit of snot coming from his nose. He lifted his trembling hands and gazed at them, before bursting into unintelligible hysterics.

A similar relief washed over Kimi herself, the common-sense part of her mind still in a stunned denial at what she'd just done. Bakugo was snarling, Todoroki palmed his face, and Uraraka was cheering, but Kimi couldn't do more than just stare blankly at Aizawa, who in turn regarded her with an air of boredom.

But despite his nonchalant posture, something glimmered in those eyes, and she thought it might have been interest.

/~/

"You're insane." Todoroki said bluntly. "And it better not be contagious."

"It's not," Kimi assured with a small laugh. He shook his head, exasperated.

Yaoyorozu sauntered up, wearing confidence and ease in her posture. Kimiko realized she'd gotten used to the grim, tenseness that had dominated her persona, but her new demeanor suited her better. The girl gave a small wave and smiled. "Hey, Kimiko, Mr. First Place."

"That's right." Kimi groaned. "He won our contest, didn't he?"

He shrugged. "I suppose I did." It was said less with an arrogant nonchalance and more with a quiet acceptance. His eyes flickered over to Kimi. "But I'm mostly wondering what on _earth_ possessed you to say all that."

"I mean, I, well," Kimi said, floundering to express that strange emotion that had wrenched her mouth open. "I just couldn't stand by and just _watch,_ " She finished helplessly.

"Bullshit."

She stared at Yaoyorozu. "What?"

"Bullshit." She repeated. "Why would you care about Mineta; you've never even talked to the guy. And besides, he didn't meet Aizawa-sensei's standards so he wasn't going to make it. You wouldn't do that for a guy who failed a written exam, so why him?"

"Because he was wrong to fail him."

"Bull-shit," Yaoyorozu sang. "How many times are you gonna make me say it? I saw you. I _saw_ you scramble around for a good reason to give; you didn't know you were right when you opened your mouth. You can't blame me for being curious; what reason did you have to antagonize your teacher for the sake of _him_?"

"I don't _know_ , okay?" Kimi exploded, sick, just _sick_ of being poked and prodded at for answers she didn't have. It was always _"what were you thinking, Midoriya?"_ or _"What makes you think you can make it, Midoriya_." She shook her head. "I just started _talking_ , and I didn't even know what the hell I was doing at the time either! I still don't!"

Todoroki snorted. "Ridiculous."

She swerved to step in front of him. "Well no one asked _you_. And while we're interrogating each other, care to explain why the hell you don't ever visit-"

Her eyes flying wide, Kimiko slapped a hand over her mouth. Todoroki's gaze had darkened, something even wilder than his father's hellfire burning in his eyes. Awkwardly, Kimi muttered. "Never mind."

What the hell had gotten into her? First it was arguing with her teacher, then she snapped at Yaoyorozu, _then_ she almost dragged Todoroki's personal life into the spotlight. Kimiko experienced a strange feeling of her control slipping through her fingers, the careful rigidness she was building herself into flopping to the ground.

She suddenly felt out of place, a wild card in this place full of clear-cut goals and ambition. Todoroki saw victory and needed strength to grasp it; Yaoyorozu saw the path and needed strength to walk it. But her? There was just a niggling voice, purring, _What about you, Kimiko Midoriya? What about you?_

She realized the two of them were staring at her in an awkward silence, and Kimi shook her head, murmuring. "Sorry, um, bye." She turned on her heel, swiftly stalking in the opposite direction.

It was her fight, she realized, that was making her feel out of place. She approached it with a _fight or die_ attitude because it had been the only type of fight she knew how to win. But… that hadn't been it at all. There'd been a gun, a knife, but there was never supposed to be any guts on the floor.

And the entire class had been watching. Kimiko felt laid bare, exposed and humiliated. All Kimiko saw was life, and she needed strength to cling to it.

She didn't want to be that way.

What happened to that desire to help people? To inspire hope with a confident smile? Had it all been buried under nightmares and vomit, blood and guts until all that was left was the want to never feel that again?

 _That's so…shallow. So selfish. And I never even noticed myself turning into this-_ "Ah!" The small yelp burst from her throat as Kimi walked into something _very_ solid.

"Try looking where you're going," said Aizawa-sensei sardonically. "It's a useful skill, really."

"Sorry sensei, I was, ah, distracted-"

"I noticed." He eyed her critically and snapped, "Midoriya."

"Sensei?"

"Stay back after school. We're going to have a little… _chat_."

/~/

 **A/N.** Midoriya wouldn't be Midoriya without having the irresistible urge to meddle where she doesn't have to.

Reviews are appreciated.


	5. Bakugo (I)

Kimiko had learned to hold herself with a deathly stillness.

It had started as a deer-in-headlights situation, drawing out the prey-instinct within her. But several nights of shivering under bedsheets in a cold sweat, subconsciously believing that movement drew attention and attention meant death, honed the skill to a razor sharpness and carved her into something fierce yet brittle.

So as Aizawa stared her down in her seat, Kimiko crushed the urge to squirm and stared coolly back..

She refused to be prey any longer.

"Well, sensei?"

With an air of utter boredom, he said, "Were you trying to kill Shoto Todoroki?"

"What?" Her calm façade shattered within. _He thought-_ "No! Why would you ask that?" She forced her breathing to steady.

"You were running at him with a knife." His tone was slow, as if explaining something to a toddler. "You could've picked a hammer, or that tranquilizer."

He thought she could want to _kill_ someone? After all those haunted nights and lightless days? Delirious laughter bubbled up in her throat. For all his cold logic, Aizawa didn't really get what was going on here, did he?

Mirth in her eyes, Kimi crooned, "I just wanted to cut him up a little, you know?"

"No," He said flatly. "Frankly, I think you're a little unstable."

The laughter died, his words a physical blow. Something cold settled in her clenched chest. "I already owned the knife." Her voice was low. "It's much easier to wish for something that you already own, something you already have emotional ties to, than to want to create something out of nothing. It's less vague, and easier to direct emotion to. _That_ is why, not some…some reason like-"

Like her own subconscious purring _a gun, a knife, and guts on the floor_ , the words a song in her veins. Like her hands aching to cradle what had once been her lifeline, to feel a leather grip sliding between her fingers.

"Not some reason like wanting to _kill_ him," Kimi finished. "So no, I didn't -and don't-want to kill Shoto Todoroki."

Aizawa paused, the shrugged. "Good to know."

Her stomach unclenched, tension that she didn't even know was there dissipating. Her frozen posture to melted into the chair.

"Still," he said, "Why not a tranquilizer? The extra energy spent would have been worth it; it's hard to dodge something as fast as a bullet, and it would've been an instant knockout."

She couldn't very well tell him that neutralization in such a way had never even occurred to her; that wasn't favorable for her valiant quest to prove that she was sane. "I didn't understand it, didn't know what it looked like, or if there were different types of doses or something. It's too hard to put any emotional investment into something so vague."

"But you made one in the end," he pointed out.

"Yes. I uh…" She couldn't exactly tell him about All Might or One for All, but a little improvisation never hurt anybody. "I strained my mind to unleash adrenaline-boosted emotion, giving me enough power to force something of my own interpretation into existence (I'm not really clear on that part, actually). That's kind of why I was in a lot of pain when I woke up; my nerves must've been fried from the strain."

"I see," said Aizawa. "I'll be blunt with you; your quirk interests me. I've never seen one that's psychology based, one that requires training of the mind instead of the body." In that way, she was the opposite of All Might; the thought made her feel a pang of disappointment. "That's not to say you won't need physical training; your quirk itself does not seem to be offensive based, merely giving you the means to do so. The rest is up to you to do physically."

"I'm not really build to be a fighter." Her body wasn't necessarily frail, but more lean and lithe. Her thin frame wouldn't be able to pack on heavy loads of muscle. Hand-to-hand combat seemed forever beyond her, no matter how much she wanted to take after All Might.

"True," agreed Aizawa. "But you can work that out with All Might; I understand that he's taken you on as his protégé?"

Her body stiffened. "How did you-"

"I caught him watching your match in secret and confronted him, but that's not important. Before each school year, I take the liberty to do some background research on my students. That way, I can have a predetermined idea of their capabilities so when I observe them in action, I have some basis to form my conclusions on. It's leads to much more reliable judgements."

"Oh."

He snorted at her lackluster response. "Yes, ' _oh_ '. I'm sure you're aware of what I found on you?"

"Aware, but hoping otherwise," Kimiko confirmed.

"Denial." He shook his head. "Hope is a very useful tool for you, but be cautious of when you use it. I hope you are sufficiently recovered from that situation-"

"I am, sensei. The doctors were very good at their job."

"I meant mentally," He snapped. "Your mental fortitude is very important in keeping your quirk in check, since it's so flexible in interpretation. I'd hate for it to become a danger to the others around you; wouldn't it be a shame if you snapped and wished for, say, a fire to devour the school in a fit of childish fury?"

Kimiko bristled. "I wouldn't _do_ that!"

"See that you don't," said Aizawa. The lazy air settled back around him, and she allowed her indignation to die.

"I don't think I could anyways."

"I disagree. The stronger your conviction, the stronger your quirk. And it can be argued that the convictions of madmen are the strongest of all."

Was he implying that she was mad? No, he'd outright _said_ it before.

 _What are you playing at, Shota Aizawa?_

Whatever he was trying to do, whatever he was trying to provoke or discover, Kimiko didn't care anymore. She smiled sweetly. "Don't worry, I'm rather fond of this school."

"And keep it that way." Aizawa pulled out his yellow sleeping bag and began smoothing it out on his desk. Kimi waited patiently as he ran his palms over the crinkles and folds, taking his sweet time as she sat there watching.

Finally, he glanced up. Seeing her waiting for advice like an eager puppy, he threw her a bone. "As your teacher, I recommend you do some testing to explore the in-depth workings of your quirk- how it operates, limitations, things like that. Now get out of my classroom."

Sensing the lack of malicious intent, Kimi smiled again, smaller this time, but more genuine. "Yes, sensei."

/~/

Aizawa liked to think himself a rational man.

He methodically combed through his student's files, taking an objective approach in measuring their capabilities. Background research was done thoroughly in order to reduce the subjectivity of things like _character assessments._ This year's batch had potential, so he'd lowered his test to one expulsion and he'd determine transfers based on the fights.

Minoru Mineta… he didn't have much faith in him from the start. His quirk was the most lackluster, and from what he could find, his personality wasn't going to make up for it. It had only been his creative application in the quirk exercises that convinced him to allow a transfer instead.

But then the girl, Midoriya, made a scene which had quite annoyed him, really. And her arguments were decent considering she'd obviously made them up on the spot. But he had something she didn't; background knowledge.

Minoru Mineta wouldn't pursue the paths she described to him, because Minoru Mineta didn't _want_ to fight. Though it was a teacher's responsibility to shape their students, it was more prudent to support them on a path which their nature was more suited to.

However, she _had_ raised points about what was _possible_ , and he supposed that people could change. But mostly, it was because failing the boy left him with an odd number of students, which made paired assignments difficult.

That was all.

Kimiko Midoriya was a wild card. Her psychology-based quirk was fascinating, especially in a world that found glory in raw, crushing strength. She didn't seem particularly vicious in nature, regardless of her battle style, but she wasn't meek- Midoriya _had_ proved to have a bite to her.

Yes, Aizawa would be keeping a close eye on her- though it was partly a security reason. At the same time, he'd also watch Bakugo, which was entirely for security reasons. Now _there_ was a troublesome kid…

/~/

Unstable. Mad. Crazy. Kimiko played with the words in her head, turning them over again and again. It had never occurred to her that _that_ was how others would see her as; she'd considered herself a little broken, yes, but never _insane_.

Kimiko raised her hands, thinking about a time where she'd see them drenched in blood every single time. She was getting better, that was for sure. And there would be a day where the mantra _gun, knife, guts on the floor_ would be nothing more than a distant memory.

That thought as her empowerment, Kimi got to work in her backyard.

She'd never gotten the chance to explore her quirk, preferring to let pure emotion drive it over purpose-driven emotion. It had just been an extension of her, responding to her whims; a leaf being tossed around in the wind.

But more than that, her quirk was _wrong_. It wasn't developed in the same way others were; it was a mutation, a half-assed quirk where something went wrong. Or like the doctors called it, it was a _bastard_ quirk, something to be ashamed of.

But that wasn't it either; she'd felt some protective instinct, that this was special, something to hold close to her chest. So she did, and no one knew.

Until now.

She cringed, imagining how Bakugo would react, but she'd deal with that later; now was the time to learn.

Her primary skillset consisted of teleportation, creation, and body-enhancement. There was self-teleportation, such as sending herself into a villain hideout, but then there was teleportation of others; like summoning her knife towards her.

Generally harder was creation. First was the fact that she had to constantly expend energy to keep her creation existing. Second was the fact that making something out of nothing wasn't supposed to be possible, but her quirk apparently bended the rules of the universe. Not that she was going to accept 'I defy the rules of the universe' as an answer; this was what she'd have to look further into.

A hypothesis was that she made things and took the materials from the nearest possible source. Going off that, Kimi picked up a twig in one hand and wished for a small wooden circle in her other.

A wooden button appeared in her palm, but the twig seemed perfectly whole.

 _Okay, maybe not_. Things she created never lasted long; she had to spend extra energy to keep them existing, so that couldn't have been it. Kimi chose to focus on something else; after all, it was more important to find out how she, personally, created things opposed to how it happened scientifically.

Two main factors came to mind; understanding of the item and understanding of what you want it to do. The two together made it easy to create a strong enough longing for her quirk to activate, but she'd never tested each individually.

On second thought, she had; the tranquilizer had been a manifestation of a want to neutralize her opponent. All that was left was to see what happened if she wished for an object without a purpose.

Slowly and meticulously, Kimiko visualized a gun and separated it from the purpose of taking down an enemy. _Just a gun_ , she thought. _Just a gun, not for killing, not for surviving, I just want to see a gun._

It appeared in her hands, and Kimiko pointed it into a patch of flower-less ground (her mom was very fond of her vegetation) and pulled the trigger, bracing for the ear-splitting bang.

It never came.

Kimi fiddled with the trigger a couple more times, before taking the gun apart, spreading the pieces on the ground. There were bullets, and all of the parts were present and in working order, as far as Kimi could tell anyways. Theoretically, it should have worked; there was nothing wrong with it. But nothing happened.

Kimiko was confused, but she was probably allowed to be confused in this case. Regardless, she had made a discovery, and that was always exciting. Impassioned, Kimiko ran back into the house and threw open her drawer. Underneath all her notebooks on heroes, she pulled out a fresh one and scrawled, _'Quirk Notes_ ' on the front.

 _Note #!: Creation- requires a purpose for the object in order for it to be in working order._

And she went on to furiously scribble down more details. Despite everything that had happened to her, in the end, Kimiko Midoriya was still a planner and an expert note-taker, and nothing would change that.

/~/

Paired assignments. She didn't really know how she felt about that.

She, along with the rest of the class, had been thrilled to have All Might as their teacher. It had left a bright, bubbly feeling in her chest, but the declaration of their assignment sent a spear of uncertainty through the glee. A mock hero-villain simulation was certainly interesting…

Who did she hope for as a partner? Kimiko scanned her classmates, and the best she could come up with was ' _not Mineta or Bakugo'_. The realization dawned on her that, consumed with the desire for victory and getting knocked out in the first match, she'd failed to get to know her fellow classmates.

Already, Yaoyorozu was swiftly making more connections left and right with an expert social grace. Lighting up at the familiar face, Kimiko made her way over and gave a playful nudge with her shoulder.

Yaoyorozu turned. "Oh, hey Kimiko."

"Kimi is fine." She smiled.

The taller girl returned the expression. "Then you can just call me Momo. Yaoyorozu is too long anyways."

"Yeah, alright. Nice costume by the way." _Though very revealing._

"Thanks, you too."

Kimi's costume was a navy blue with a bit of forest green. It wasn't as fancy as she'd wanted it to be, certain previous encounters leaving her obsessed with the practicality of it. The colors were meant to be not particularly eye-catching, leaving her some semblance of stealth.

It was a sleek, simple design that emphasized speed and flexibility. The only frivolous design choice was the ridges on her helmet, jutting out to resemble All Might's haircut. She was, after all, a loyal fangirl through and through.

"Anyways," said Momo. "Who'd you want for a partner? It would really suck if I got paired up with Mineta, no offense to him, but hey- wouldn't it be cool if we got paired up?"

Kimi placed a finger to her chin in thought. "Well, that would certainly be an interesting combination, though I'm not sure of your fighting style. Both of our quirks are very flexible, which would be useful in securing the target. But we'd have problems with heavily aggressive opponents and we both don't have the build for physical combat. Not to mention our quirks would be lacking any raw offensive power-" Kimi cut herself off abruptly. "Not that I'd mind being paired with you! Ack, I was doing the rambling thing again…"

Momo laughed. "Okay, I get you. But seeing your match yesterday, I don't think we'd be lacking in offensive power at all." She tossed Kimi a teasing smirk.

She blushed. "Yeah, let's not talk about that."

"Did you _see_ Todoroki's face when you rushed him with the knife?"

 _I guess we're talking about it_. "I was a little busy trying trying not to die."

"Don't exaggerate," Momo chided. "Anyways-"

"Kimiko Midoriya!" called All Might. Kimi snapped to attention. "Will be paired with Fumikage Tokoyami!"

 _Who?_

"They will be facing Tenya Iida and… Katsuki Bakugo!"

A jolt of panic shot through her. Her head snapped around, matching her horrified gaze with Bakugo's burning one. A steady chant of _oh shit, oh shit, oh shit_ pounded within her and she glanced away.

"Midoriya-san," called a soft, low voice.

A boy clad in black with a bird-like head approached. She waved. "…Tokoyami, I presume?"

"Fumikage Tokoyami. Pleasure to meet you, Midoriya-san."

"Nice to meet you too, and just Midoriya is fine."

"As you wish."

He certainly didn't have Bakugo's powerful predator build, but Tokoyami held himself with his own quiet strength. Normal people fidgeted. Shifted their weight and made the occasional twitch. Tokoyami was deadly still, taking in everything with a keen eye.

Kimi smiled. They'd get along just fine.

/~/

Tokoyami looked up from his paper. "I have sufficient knowledge of the layout."

"Yeah… I'm good too." Kimi exhaled slowly. "Let's talk strategy."

His birdlike head tilted. "Are you nervous?"

"Justifiably so," she confirmed. "Bakugo is powerful, and he's scarily smart to back it up."

"You have background knowledge on him, then, since you were unconscious for his match."

"Yeah, we went to the same school before this. Anyways, his intelligence applies mostly reacting in the midst of fighting, and less towards planning and strategy, so as long as our strategy is sound, we got this."

"You make it sound as if it will be simple," Tokoyami noted.

Kimiko ran a hand through her hair. "No, far from it, actually. But the plan will obviously take into account our personal capabilities, so unless we get our assessments of each other or our opponents wrong, we should have a reasonable chance."

"Except we have no way of understanding them or us thoroughly," he pointed out. "Perhaps it would be best to create short plans based on the current situation."

"Yeah," Kimi sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'd just prefer having everything under control from the beginning, but that's never going to happen, is it?" A touch of her old bitterness seeped into her words.

"We should still have a rough idea of the plan of action." He gave her a basic rundown of his quirk, and Kimi explained hers in greater detail. "It is reasonable to assume that the building will be dark, allowing Dark Shadow to become more offensively oriented."

"Okay. And Bakugo isn't the type to hang back and guard; he'll be coming right at us from the moment he can. I'll go in and bait him and you cover, okay?"

The two talked in hurried bouts, before All Might called, "Begin!" and they sprang into action. Kimi sprinted up the stairs, heaving up the window and leaping in. Tokoyami slid in after, smooth as a shadow, and they slowed their pace.

It was dark, empty enough for their footsteps to give a muffled echo. Kimi forced her tense body to relax as she glanced around corners, the anticipation building to almost unbearable heights. Then-

" _MIDORIYA!_ " There was a howl and a flash of movement and Kimi ducked, twisting under Bakugo's forward lunge. Explosions rocketed from his palms over her head and she heard Tokoyami hiss.

An avian shriek sliced through the ruckus, presumably from Dark Shadow, but Kimi didn't look back and barreled forwards. Her ears pricked up at the sound of approaching footsteps much too heavy to belong to her partner.

Tokoyami shouted, "To your left!" but she'd already turned, arms wrapping around the arm that was hurtling towards her face. Her physique wasn't suited to take a blow head on, so she used his own momentum against him, throwing Bakugo into the floor.

He crashed into the ground and thrashed against her grip, but like hell was she about to enter a battle of brute strength. Kimi sprang away, running after Tokoyami.

They barely made it round the next corner when there was another blast of sound, the walls around them giving a shudder. Bakugo plowed after her, but his rage telegraphed his next punch. She sidestepped easily, capture tape already in hand. She tossed it around his arms and pulled taut, a move pulled from Aizawa.

Bakugo lunged against his restraints, but Dark Shadow rose from whatever darkness he was borne from and dragged him down into the ground.

From beside her, Tokoyami flashed her a look and veered off in another direction, trusting her to catch on. _The plan was to lose Bakugo and get the jump on him- he's going to circle back._

Was she to press on and secure the target, or help Tokoyami? Kimiko skidded to a stop, the urge to _run, run, run_ towards her goal thrumming hotly through her veins. It took a physical effort to attempt rationality.

They weren't familiar with each other's fighting styles, so it wouldn't help if she went back to fight with him. But knowing Bakugo's pride, the moment he had the chance he would go back to hunting Kimi with that same vengeful fury.

And besides, Tokoyami was closer to the path to the goal from where he was now. For Kimi to circle around them would take far too much time, so…

Kimi forced herself to run into the open, trembling and terror-struck and wanting _oh so very much_ to flee, but braced herself and cried, " _BAKUGO!_ "

A wrathful blast shredded the wall before her.

Kimi braced an arm before her against the dust and debris and overwhelming heat. A chunk of the wall slid past her, drawing blood across her forearm. The warm liquid slid down between her fingers, hot and sticky.

Like a train, Bakugo hurtled straight for her, single-minded in his pursuit. He dropped the physical attacks and thrusted his hands forwards, sparks of light going off in his palms.

"DIE!"

That ancient, primal power came alive within her,

Dropping smoothly into a crouch, Kimi shot forwards and teleported behind him. The knife was in her hands and she gutted him, avoiding the vital organs. The stab was shallow enough to avoid much damage, but it was enough to elicit a startled, wide-eyed look.

"No," Kimi purred. " _You_ die."

Delirious laughter built within her- Bakugo just looked so damn _shocked_ , like he hadn't even considered the prospect of taking more than a beating. Like he hadn't expected to bleed.

 _I'll convince you otherwise,_ she thought with a touch of venom, before a grin split her lips; she'd caught sight of Tokoyami quickly ducking round the first corner. Her eyes snapped back to Bakugo.

And then the world went white.

Ruthless, searing heat shredded her skin- burning, writhing, scorching. She flinched back but Bakugo slammed his fist into her head, sending her stumbling back against the wall. With a roar of hatred, he grabbed her shoulder- grabbed her roughly and hatefully and lit his palms up with fire.

Kimiko _screamed,_ collapsing to the floor to clutch desperately at her shoulder, fingers clawing uselessly as if they could tear the pain away. She didn't have time to nurse her wound, for another blow right to the temple crushed all thought right from her head.

She must have passed out for a second because the next thing she saw was fire, another explosion lighting up right before her eyes.

The wall behind her crumbled, and she was sent skidding back. It was all Kimi could do to cling to consciousness. Bakugo loomed over her, face twisted in an ugly leer. "Still awake? Why won't you _die?!_ "

He sent another crashing blow to her head and she reeled, seeing stars that did not feel and light that did not warm. Ruthlessly, he continued to pummel her without mercy. Blow after blow had her body going limp, too battered to resist the barrage.

"Why?" Kimi rasped. "Why do you hate me?"

Bakugo bared his teeth eyes miniature explosions of their own. "Funny you should ask that, Midoriya, you filthy little _liar_!"

Kimiko struggled to her feet, swaying.

He threw her back to the floor.

Helpless. Pathetically sprawled on the ground. It sent a wild panic surging through her, and Kimiko's eyes opened wide. Wide, taking in the palms thrusted before her, tiny kernels of light festering within, volatile and about to erupt.

Her terror was a living, writhing thing beneath her skin. Her legs were useless, weak with fear, and the only thing she could do was beg that cold power in her with all her heart as she reached out-

-and grabbed his hand.

The kernel of heat died in his palm. Before Bakugo could react, Kimi managed to collect her emotions enough to flash away, out of the blast zone. Without second thought, she ran.

"You won't get away, you bitch!'

Despite herself, she huffed, "That's not very nice," and broke into a run.

"Turn around and face me!"

 _Yeah right._

Her footsteps rang loudly as she abandoned all thoughts of stealth. _I wonder where Tokoyami is; I didn't memorize past this floor, I sure hope he did. Though he should be alright; Iida's probably guarding the target so-_

There was a _BANG_ and the world was spinning, the ground rushing towards her face; her nose was crushed sideways with a crackling of bones, releasing a dam of blood.

 _On your feet on your feet on your feet-_

Ignoring the burns on the back of her arm and the rawness of her cheek, Kimi whirled, knife held before her protectively- not that it would do much against an explosion. _How did he hit me, I was out of range-_

Oh.

His gauntlets- they enhanced the power of his blasts in some way. She'd miscalculated, and was now going to pay- he'd closed the distance, and she had no way of outrunning him this time.

Half the fourth wish sent power surging to her legs and she streaked towards Bakugo, spinning to slice him on the arm before trying to scramble away. The pain didn't elicit so much as a flinch as Bakugo spun with her, landing a punch in the back of her head.

Her vision temporarily went dark, but she kept running anyways. Light slowly returned to her eyes, enough for her to see stars flash with every step.

"Fight me! Stop running, damnit!"

She had to keep going, but her legs suddenly felt so very wobbly- and which way was the staircase again? Her head was spinning, spinning, spinning-

"COWARD!"

The word, despite everything, gave her pause. _Coward_. A man was bleeding out in front of her, a gaping wound in his throat. _Coward_. There was a fracture in her jaw, a bullet in her shoulder, there were impossible odds and an impossible situation, but she'd fought her way out and lived- _lived_!

Rage filled her, the fiery emotion boosting her wish reserves and she was suddenly in front of Bakugo, her fist smashing into his face, screaming, "I'm _not_ a coward!"

Her other hand sent the knife streaking through his flesh. Without so much as a flinch, Bakugo set off another explosion right in her face but she dug her heels into the ground and lashed out again, this time striking nothing; he'd darted backwards to pummel her from a distance.

But she wasn't just going to sit back and let that happen.

She'd felt hopelessness, desperation, fear, but never _rage_. He'd beat her into the floor; she wasn't just going to sit and _take_ it. Kimiko gave a feral snarl as she switched to a reverse grip on her knife. Her lips pulled back to show teeth as she charged, single-minded in intent- she was going to rip, tear, eliminate, _destroy_ -

Bakugo howled as he pulled the trigger on his gauntlets, and the resulting explosion was so hot that all Kimi could see was white.

/~/

" _No._ " Shoto hissed, the word wrenching from his mouth. A couple pairs of eyes glanced at him.

"What are you talking about?" said Denki Kaminari. "It's over- she ain't getting up from that one."

He couldn't articulate the surety in his chest and all he could do was shake his head. "No. Not yet. No."

Kaminari shrugged. "Sure, man. Whatever you say."

It wasn't over. He'd only fought her once, but Shoto knew that when Kimiko Midoriya began fighting like a demon, she'd be ripped to pieces before she rolled over to accept defeat.

He wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

/~/

 **A/N.** Next chapter will finish up this fight scene, and poor Kimi will finally get a break.

Reviews are love!


	6. Bakugo (II)

Her skin was blasted raw as her body arced through the air and into the ground. The explosion skimmed the walls, the glancing blow enough to be shredding. Sharp talons of heat raked her body, scorching every last inch of her flesh. The shoulder he'd grabbed and lit aflame was shrieking in agony, the heat of the pain so hot it was cold, and she curled up, clutching it to somehow make the hurt go away.

 _On your feet, go go go-_

The world swayed -or maybe that was her- and she dragged herself upright with a snarl. The casual, loping gait in which Bakugo approached made her see red; the feeling of being toyed with sparking an anger she didn't know she had. _I'm not prey; not anymore, not after everything._

A determined step forwards sent everything spiraling sideways; the sharp flash of pain that followed was a blinding white in her vision. The world kept spinning, then her arm was slamming into the ground- the moving, shifting ground.

 _Weak._ The thought pulsed through her like a primal, liquid thing.Hungrily, she reached to unleash the barricade of One for All, the temptation of power almost drug-like in its addiction. It was a slap in the face to snap out of the urge; she had to be realistic- Tokoyami might still need her.

Bakugo was just a breath away, smelling of sweat and smoke. She had to figure out how to control On for All _right now_.

Problem was, the power hurt her nerves as it forcibly tore emotion from her mind. But if she could-

 _BAM._ Her body was sent skidding sideways, sprawling limply across the floor. His kick had lashed her chin, and she was dazedly thankful that she hadn't bitten her tongue as Bakugo beat her over and over, brutally slamming her into the ground again and again.

"You tricked me!" He screamed, swinging a fist sideways into her cheek. "Played me for a fool! But you're still the same, aren't you? You're still _weak!_ "

It was a bursting of a dam, the rage. Who was he to demand compliance, obedience, weakness? And now he was throwing a tantrum when he discovered his prey could bite; oh, Kimi definitely did bite- she was going to rip him to shreds.

Then suddenly, there was power.

Bakugo had backed away, admiring his creation of purple bruises woven overtop skin. Kimi gazed back through deceptively dispassionate eyes, then _moved_.

She closed the distance between them with a deathly swiftness, snaking her arm around Bakugo's outstretched one and twisting, his shoulder giving a sickening _pop_. He roared, but was cut off as she slammed her head into his nose, feeling fragile bone snap beneath her forehead.

A hateful scream split the air followed by a reaping blast of heat, but an off-hand thought sent a numbness to wash over her scorched skin. Speed was key, and Kimi didn't miss a single beat as she launched herself forwards.

There was nothing clever or subtle about the way they pummeled each with loathful blows. Energy was still pulsing through her veins, hot and powerful as it drove her knife forwards, slicing through the air. Soon, it would cut flesh.

She could already see the way the blood would spread, could already smell its metallic tang as imagination blurred with reality, then-

He _caught_ it.

Gloved hands met the knife head-on, the fabric splitting, followed by the flesh underneath. The honed edge sank in deeper as Bakugo closed his fingers around it and _pulled_ , yanking it from her hand.

He adjusted his grip to the hilt, and in her shock, Kimi forgot to dodge.

Pain blossomed in her shoulder -the one already blasted raw from a previous explosion- and Kimiko felt a scream tear from her throat. More painful was the helplessness that was threatening to devour her; her hands were empty. There was nothing between her and her vengeful enemy.

Powerlessness was not something Kimi dealt with well, and she felt a crazed frenzy grip her, bleeding vermillion into her vision. An animalistic shrieking snarl sprung from her throat and she howled, "Give it back! I want it _back_!"

She'd pushed a superfluous amount of emotion into it, crude and imprecise in her wishing. But the knife was back in her hands, the screaming in her ears had dulled, and all was once again alright.

One for All rode on her desperation, sending it surging throughout her body and bleeding red into her vision. The despair, the agony was an audible thing blasting through her ears, drowning out whatever words of hate Bakugo spat at her now.

 _I have to calm down_. There was an attempt at a soothing breath but it twisted into a racking cough. Her eyes flickered away from Bakugo's hands, catching sight of a flash of darkness a couple feet down the corridor. _Tokoyami_.

The goal had shifted.

The urge to utterly _destroy_ her opponent was still singing in her blood but Kimi shoved it down. If Tokoyami was here instead of with the target, it meant he'd taken down Iida and planned to win through the other conditions; neutralization of the villains.

 _I'm ready._

Light sparked in Bakugo's palm, sending a jolt of icy fear shooting down her spine. The burst of terror was enough for a desperate wish for protection, and an invisible force knocked his arm back. The spark died in his hands.

Tokoyami began a cautious approach and their eyes met, before Kimi glanced back to Bakugo. He was flexing his fingers, his other hand going for the release trigger on his gauntlet. Palm thrusting forwards, he howled, "MIDORIYA!"

Kimi ran headlong into the explosion, wishing for a gust of wind to propel her forwards and through the blast. Then she ducked out of the radius, the pressure disappearing; it was just Kimi now, riding the wind with a knife in hand.

"BAKUGO!"

His blazing eyes rose to bore holes into hers, arm winding back in preparation to exchange a final blow. It was fist versus knife, flesh verses steel, and Bakugo was expecting to come out on top; his hand was a hair's breadth away, ready to win this final clash to end it all.

She dropped the knife.

Wide eyes were still trained on the airborne blade as Kimi skidded into a slide, sweeping both his legs out from under him then pouncing to pin him to the ground. In the next heartbeat, Tokoyami was there with the capture string in hand, snaring his wrists with a cold efficiency.

Bakugo thrashed, but the deed was done. Kimi lifted herself from his body and dusted herself off.

She glanced at Tokoyami, head throbbing. "Well, it seems the villains have been captured."

"It appears so."

Bakugo seethed, spitting hate and curses and Kimiko bent over to smile at him, the world blurring and spinning around her. She thought she rather deserved to gloat; he'd been unnecessarily cruel in his methods, setting off an explosion right against her flesh. Even now, her shoulder burned.

"Trickery." He snarled. "Underhanded tactics. You're a coward, Midoriya, and you don't deserve this win."

Kimiko shrugged. "You deserve it less."

/~/

She was thankfully conscious this time as Recovery Girl healed her, though still wasn't able to go watch the other matches. Despite managing to reduce the damage, it was still significant enough to require ridiculous amount of painkillers.

After it was all over, All Might dropped by for a visit. Kimiko glanced up upon hearing the familiar shuffling of his feet.

"It's been a while since our last one-on-one meeting." He murmured. "You've done well, Midoriya."

Those words, his praise, sparked a fluffy feeling inside even after all this time. Despite the pain, Kimi felt a smile inch onto her face. "Thanks, All Might. I appreciate it. Really."

They were content to sit in a comfortable silence, each reliving their own memories. Kimi sighed, allowing her eyes to flutter closed.

 _There'd been a poof of smoke, and he'd…_ changed _. All Might's new form was painfully skinny, all sharp angle and bone. But…it was still All Might. And she'd still say what she wanted to say._

 _"I have a bastardized quirk!" She burst out, giving him pause. "An anomaly, an amalgamation, something crude and unnatural. It's weak,_ wrong _, but do you think…d'you think it's enough for me to be a hero?"_

 _"…A bastard quirk," he mused. The moment the words fell from his lips, his expression darkened. The expression on her idol, directed at_ her _was soul-crushing, and Kimi felt tears gather in the corners of her eyes. "No."_

 _Her sharp intake of breath was more of a rattling sob. "Please, I want to be like you. I want to inspire confidence,_ hope _, I'll try harder than anyone else-_ "

 _"Don't tell anybody about your quirk," All Might warned, cutting her off. "Keep it secret, get good grades, maybe become a policewoman if you really want to help. It's good that you have a dream, but make sure your ambitions are obtainable."_

 _"I…"_

 _"Sorry, kid."_

Kimi breathed, casting the memories aside. "All Might?"

"Yeah?"

 _Do you still think I'd make a good hero? Why do you think I want to be a hero? Is it bad that I don't want to die?_

"What was your quirk before One for All was passed to you?"

His mouth stretched to what one could call a grim smile. "I was quirkless."

/~/

Aizawa clapped his hands together once. "Alright class. Generally excellent showing yesterday, with a few notable exceptions. That was a good warm-up exercise regarding the hero-villain dynamic."

An indignant voice called out, "A _warm-up_ exercise?!"

"Yes. Now, this dynamic changes when a third party is introduced; a hostage. And thus, your aims and fighting style must shift appropriately. Our next unit will revolve around recon and rescue."

Bakugo gave an angry snarl, shooting up from his seat. "I want to learn how to kill stuff, not save damsels in distress. It's Support's job to take the useless tasks, not mine."

That was so much _wrong_ with what he said that Kimi's mouth wrenched open angrily, ready to shoot him down; thankfully, Aizawa beat her to it.

It was just a slight movement, but the entire atmosphere of the classroom changed as he narrowed his eyes. Little things, such as the tapping of a foot or shifting in a seat, died instantly to leave a strangely eerie silence. It was almost an art form, the way Shota Aizawa commanded his class.

"I think we have a small misunderstanding about heroism and Support," he said, slow and icy. "The role of Support is a noble one that requires extreme skill and forethought, as well as a flexible, strategic mind. They set the terrain for people like you to burst in with your emotional recklessness with no danger to the civilians; they prepare your hero suits that you carelessly damage and tear.

"And their thorough understanding of equipment and skill with stealth allows for careful sabotage of the equipment of enemies. So when I say that someone like you, Bakugo, could _never_ be a Support unit, I mean it as an insult."

The boy's spine had stiffened, his face working through several expressions of anger ranging from furious to downright _murderous_. Kimi caught a faint trembling in his muscles, and was rather surprised when he sat back down with no more than an angry huff.

Aizawa's face split into an unpleasant smile. "That's better. Now, as for being a hero, never forget that your primary goal is to _protect_ , not kill. Killing is what villains do, and what we do when there is no other option. Understood?"

There was inaudible muttering.

" _Understood?_ "

"Alright!" Bakugo's upper lip curled. "Alright, okay. I get it."

Aizawa looked rather doubtful, considering the promise of death in his expression, and Kimi was inclined to agree, giving a slow shake of her head.

"As I was saying, a hostage is introduced into the equation, most often your goal will be to eliminate the villain as swiftly and efficiently as possible without using large scale attacks." There were pointed glances at Bakugo and Todoroki.

"That's what we'll be working on over the course of the next month. Those with damaged costume, please turn them in for repair; you won't need them tomorrow as you'll just be participating in basic training exercises." He sighed. "Dismissed."

/~/

Kimiko was sure she was crazy.

Yes, that had to be it. There could be no possible other reason for her to be approaching the trembling form before her; trembling with what was definitely rage, not sorrow.

"…Bakugo?"

He whirled with a startling suddenness, a dark flame to his eyes. " _What?_ " he snapped roughly.

Was he that upset over his loss? Kimi imagined a world where people sang praises of her strength, and where every win was an effortless, flawless victory. For him, it was more than just a blow to his pride; even if he rationally understood that he wasn't the strongest out there, he'd been groomed to subconsciously believe it. The loss, to someone he'd perceived as the weakest, was a devastating wake-up call to reality.

From personal experience, Kimi understood how such wake-up calls could be world-shattering; hers had left her hospitalized then sent to a mental ward.

His rage was understandable though not relatable, so her voice contained a distinct lack of spite when she said, "Good fight. You're really strong."

Bakugo didn't say anything for the longest time, soft anger simmering in his eyes. In some ways, it was much more terrifying than the blazing hatred before; _these_ eyes were quietly calculating, precise in its hatred. And that was so much worse.

After a long pause, he scoffed. "One day, Midoriya, I'm going to rip you to shreds, and you're going to scream. You're weak. I'm strong. I swear it- I'm gonna beat you into the ground."

A lopsided smile slashed across her face. "Just don't forget that I beat you first."

Oh, she was definitely crazy.


	7. UA's First Task

"Get out of my way, Yaoyorozu."

Momo stared down Katsuki Bakugo. He held her gaze for a moment before scoffing and trying to shove her aside. In a single motion, she drew a pike from her chest and slammed its end on the ground.

Bakugo's head jerked around. "The fuck-"

Momo smiled sweetly. "You do anything like that to my friend again, and it'll be your head on this pike."

She swept by him without another word. That ugly viciousness was unbecoming of her, but it was a language that got through Bakugo's thick skull.

In any case, she had homework to review.

/~/

Dummies.

They had to fight metal, robotic, dummies in rotating pairs. There were different kinds too; a quick sweep showed Kimi about three different makes, the most common being a heavy armored one.

Aizawa stood to the side with a clipboard in hand to record their scores. Scoring was based on how much time they took to render the dummy out of commission; if they took longer than a minute, the dummy would automatically deactivate, failing them. Each person would have four different partners and have an average score pulled from that.

Sero and Iida just finished, scoring a whopping 43.7 (the amount of seconds they had left). Aizawa scribbled it down and called, "Kirishima and Midoriya!"

She glanced around, but Kirishima found her first. "Hey."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to tell me your quirk." Kimi admitted, cutting to the chase. "I went first for the previous matches and was knocked unconscious, so I didn't get to see anyone else in action."

He laughed. "I make my body hard and hit stuff."

She eyed him. "You're _entire_ body?"

He shot her a sly, teasing smile. "Just which part are you interested in?"

"Careful," Momo called from the side. "She might castrate you."

That only caused Kimi's blush to deepen. She spluttered, but Momo was already gone, so she settled for a sigh. "Ignore that."

"Should I be worried?" said Kirishima, though the shit-eating grin on his face did nothing to demonstrate worry. "Anyways, what's the plan?"

Ah, _that_ was a conversation she was comfortable with. "We smash it to bits."

His grin turned feral. "I like that plan."

They entered the ring, facing the dummy- it was a common armored one. The cluster of mechanic parts roared to life, bending and unbending its knees and waving its arms. Kirishima's skin seemed to stiffen in a way, before hardening into sharp angles. He charged forwards and slammed a fist right into the chestplate of the dummy, producing only a metallic _thunk_.

"Ow! Damnit!" He whirled around. "Hey, Midoriya! Don't just stand there!"

Kimi ignored him, casting her mind back to a darker time. She was ten again, staggering out of the villain hideout leaving a trail of blood. A little digging uncovered the memory pooling in her mind as a black pit of despair, and she dove right in.

Isolated in her suffering. No one to help her. She was going to die alone; there was no one to save her.

Just Kimi.

She cradled the lonely, cold feeling, adding fuel to the icy flame until the chill spread through her veins. Her eyes snapped to the dummy, the hunk of metal. Emotionless. Immune to pain.

 _You should feel cold too_.

A thin sheet of frost swept over it, crackling crystals of ice crawling up from its legs, multiplying exponentially to encase the entire dummy in frost. Gears whirred in protest, the waving of its metal arms snapping off some of the ice, but the it consumed every untouched space with a hunger.

With icy eyes, Kimi watched the freezing show.

"…I should've been worried," muttered Kirishima.

She glanced at her partner who did a double take at whatever expression was on her face. "It's brittle now; go for the joints," she told him.

The brazen grin was back in an instant. "You got it."

He shot forwards. Stone-hard fists smashed against the neck-joint of the dummy, relentlessly beating it until it finally gave out, and the head of the dummy fell to the ground.

Kirishima strode back over to Kimi, extending his fist. She blinked at it for a second before bumping it with her own, just as Aizawa announced their final score of 32.6 seconds. With what was almost a sigh, the ice within her thawed.

Kimi's eyes met the mismatched ones of Todoroki, and she jerked her thumb over her shoulder and said, "My ice is prettier than yours."

He rolled his eyes and looked away. "He's just jealous," she told Kirishima.

He barked a laugh. "I like you, Midoriya. I should beat the crap out of you sometime."

Kimi flipped her hair. "You can try."

/~/

"Ki-mi-ko!" Momo sang, making her way over. "You keep getting knocked unconscious, so we haven't had a chance to talk."

"Yeah, um, sorry 'bout that?"

"Forgiven," she said easily. "So, what d'you think they're gonna score?" She motioned to the pair before them.

Bakugo and Mina Ashido scowled at each other, the expression looking fierce on the former and petulant on the other.

"Thirty or so seconds."

"Really." Momo snorted. "With the way they've been going, it'll be a miracle if they can get stay in the twenties."

Just as she said that, Bakugo abruptly turned away, launching himself at the dummy and thrust his palms into the head, a string of explosions going off.

The head was blown clean off.

Bakugo brushed past a stunned Mina Ashido, who hadn't had a chance to react.

"Forty-one seconds!"

Kimi blinked. "Well, damn." _Looks like I'm picking up Bakugo's crude language._

"So…tie?"

"No way. I was closer."

Momo huffed, handing her a couple coins. "Fine, let's bet on the next."

Turns out, the next pair was Kimi herself and Tsuyu Asui, so betting was a little awkward. Bet too high, and she'd look arrogant. Bet too low and if she was right, it'd look like she purposely held back.

She settled for a nice, "Twenty-five to thirty seconds." which seemed to be the average.

"I have full faith in you," stated Momo. "So Forty-five and up."

Blushing a little at her confidence in her, Kimi nodded. "Deal."

"Asui, was it?"

The other girl tilted her head. "Please, call me Su."

"Well, Su, your quirk is…an elongated tongue?"

"My quirk is frog."

"Your quirk is…frog."

"Yup."

 _Okay then_. The new dummy was another of the standard armored ones. Asui didn't seem to have the raw power of Kirishima, so it was up to Kimi to do the heavy-hitting.

And what was good for heavy hitting? Well…

"Damn," Kirishima whistled as a five-foot sledgehammer materialized in her hands. _I was wishing for power, but the universe went a little overboard._

She heard someone mutter, "It's taller than Mineta," which elicited a snicker from her. Steadying her feet, Kimi broke into a run.

The awkward weight of the hammer turned what was supposed to be a sprint into a stagger, and she had to jerk her own weight to a side to balance it out.

"That's not going to work," she said, turning to Su. "Any ideas?"

Her large eyes blinked. "My tongue's not very strong, but I guess I could launch you forwards with it."

She vanished the hammer to ease the burden on Asui, planning to re-summon it at the last instant. Then she was whizzing through the air, bringing the hammer down on the head and crushing it with the force of mass times acceleration.

She huffed, a little out of breath. "Thanks, Asui."

"It's Su. And good job."

Walking back into the crowd of onlookers, Kirishima called, "Nice one!" and she flashed a grin back. Yaoyorozu walked up to her with an air of smug satisfaction.

"You scored forty seconds- I'm closer, so I win."

"You know, I don't even care; I _scored forty seconds_."

She paused. "Oh, right. Good job."

That was the third highest score, Iida and Sero's whopping 45 coming in first, followed by Bakugo's single-handed victory at 41 seconds. However, they were all pretty much beat in the next five eight seconds by Denki Kaminari telling his partner, Mina, "I got this," walking up to the dummy and short-circuiting it.

52 seconds.

Mina threw her hands up in the air. "Sensei, how about next time you just don't bother calling me."

"She's unlucky," Momo murmured. "And we didn't even have time to place bets."

Kimi flinched as Iida's ears practically perked up and he sped-walked over. "Placing bets is not good student etiquette," he scolded.

"Right," said Kimi. "Hey Momo, let's just discuss who's gonna win and give money to whoever's closest."

"Cool."

Iida appeared to be in physical agony. "That-that-"

Kimi cut him off. "Oh look, it's my turn again. I don't feel like betting, ahem, _discussing_ how I'll do with money on the line."

Momo pouted. "Fine. Hey Jiro!"

Kimi headed over to Uraraka. Without even her having to ask, the brunette said, "I can levitate things."

"Oh. Thanks."

She looked faintly amused. "Got a plan?"

"Make my hammer lighter?"

"Kay."

As Kimi repeatedly whacked a hunk of metal, she reflected on what it said about her for _this_ to be the greatest fun she'd had in a while.

39 seconds. The two girls exchanged high-fives.

Sauntering back over to her group, Kimi asked, "Who won the bet?"

Momo raised her hand with a triumphant smirk.

"I said forty and above," Jiro said, a little dazed. "She said thirty to thirty-nine. All you had to do was take _one more second_."

"…Sorry?"

Momo nudged her. "Don't be."

Sensing the danger to her wallet, Kimi refrained from making any more bets. Jiro, on the other hand, refused to quit until she won it all back.

Personally, Kimi thought that would be rather unlikely.

/~/

"Midoriya and Todoroki."

They took their positions before the dummy, Kimi offering him a tentative "Hey."

He dipped his head in acknowledgement.

This was her designated 'mutated dummy'; everyone got one specifically picked for them. Kaminari had gotten one without any chinks in the metal to be impervious to his electricity, and Bakugo's one was shock-absorbent. Kimi barely had time to wonder what would counter her, before Todoroki snapped into motion without a word.

With just a shift in his stance, a streak of ice slammed into the dummy, before…

Sliding right off.

Narrowing her eyes, Kimi registered the faint gleam of water on the metallic surface. _It's heated._ This wasn't a counter for her; it was one for Todoroki.

Not to waste a single second, Kimi re-summoned the sledgehammer (maintaining creations took too much energy) and wished for a burst of power through her legs and arms.

Even as the hot energy coursed through her limbs, Kimi could feel a chilly emptiness creep into her core; she was out of wishes for the day, and wasn't willing to use One for All and hospitalize her for a simple exercise.

So this was the only hit she got. Kimi launched herself into the air, trembling arms driving the hammer downwards.

It bounced right off the head, and the hammer dissolved into nothingness.

She dropped into a crouch to avoid the swinging arms and ducked out of its reach, sprinting back to Todoroki. "I'm out of commission," she told him. "All up to you now."

"That is merely inconvenient," he…assured her? More spears of ice raced towards the dummy, once again merely sliding off the surface.

"It's got a heated surface- use the other half of your quirk; overheat it or melt it or something instead."

"That will not be necessary," he said calmly, even as the next barrage slid right off. Like it had before. And the time before that.

Kimi's expression was flat. "Really."

A soft snarl escaped his lips, two sets of ice streaking forwards this time. They crashed into the dummy from two sides, but a jerk of its arms was enough to dislodge the ice.

"Your fire, Todoroki. Use it!" Kimi felt like she was going mad with frustration; and it wasn't even enough frustration for another wish! The solution was _so obvious_ , and why he kept trying a failed tactic was completely baffling.

"No."

" _Why?!_ " she burst out. "Look! Use your eyes! Can't you see it's not working?"

"It'll have to run out of heating energy eventually," he replied stubbornly. "I refuse to use my left side."

Kimiko once again wondered why that was. Not wanting to rely on his flames and under-develop his ice was the reason she'd stuck with, but it sure as hell didn't apply now. So was it arrogance? Sheer stubbornness?

"Damnit!" she growled. "This is not the time for pride!"

Todoroki's eyes flashed. "Be quiet."

"But this is ridiculous!" She protested. "You're not going to outlast it!"

"Attacking a dummy," he pronounced, "is still combat."

 _What._

And with that, he was back to shooting ice. Kimi watched, dumbfounded, as he threw his frustrations into _more ice_ , flat-out refusing to even consider using fire. _Oh god I want to throttle him._ And finally, she realized.

This mutated dummy was designed for _both_ of them.

It countered Todoroki, who was paired with her. And Aizawa knew that without a pair, her quirk (which lacked pure, raw power), was relatively helpless when put against a suit of metal.

If Todoroki, her partner, was stumped, then so was she.

She didn't throttle him, but she shook his shoulders (which she'd have to settle for instead). "Use. Your. _Fire_."

He shook her off. "Get your hands off me!"

She seethed, overcome with the urge to stamp her foot childishly. There was just something utterly infuriating about watching something do the _exact same thing_ over and over, expecting different results. She never would have expected it from the prodigious Shoto Todoroki.

"You don't use your fire in combat situations- is that it?" Her eyes narrowed. "Well that's ridiculous. Why would you handicap yourself like that?"

He glared.

"I mean, if you learn to switch between both sides for combination moves, then both quirks will be developed. You don't have to practice them individually."

"That's not what this is about."

"Then _what is it?_ "

He swirled to face her, and Kimi was taken aback by the emotion in his eyes.

He was seething hate at her, intimidating in a way Bakugo could never manage. Todoroki was all frost and jagged ice; cold, sharp and commanding. In contrast, Bakugo was a petulant child throwing a tantrum.

Finally, he declared, "You wouldn't understand."

Channeling her inner Bakugo, Kimi spat, "Bullshit! You're supposed to use everything you have at your disposal to achieve your goal; what the _hell_ are you doing-"

A soft whirring cut her off, and Kimiko stared in numb disbelief as the metal dummy shut off, slouching into its deactivated position.

A minute was over.

They'd failed.

The aftereffects of her heated emotion had her ears ringing; Kimi was still in shock as she walked back to the sidelines, leaving Todoroki frozen behind her.

/~/

They were the only ones to fail. No one else even came close, the lowest being Mineta and Jiro's 27 seconds.

Shoto couldn't move, trapped in his own collapsing world.

It wasn't the fail, which wouldn't be weighted heavily. It was the feeling of _his power_ failing him- of success slipping through his fingers like the melting of an icecube in his hands.

Mostly, he felt like he was burning.

He was burning in his father's flames- he was standing within them, consumed by the fire. Was he never going to escape the need for his flames, and therefore his father?

The thought of being dependent on _him_ was like dragging a knife through his gut; it was physically painful;, unbearable.

Shoto refused to rely on his father's power; he'd prove that his left side, and therefore Endeavor, _wasn't_ necessary. He didn't need him to become a great hero.

But he'd failed. So did that mean…?

 _No,_ he thought venomously. _I'll get stronger, cleverer. I'll never give in._

Resolve reinforced, Shoto strode off the field.

/~/

 **A/N.** Bakugo was certainly insufferable in the beginning of the series. I find him an interesting character; a ball of anger and pride with a lot of directions for character development. I haven't settled on a path for him yet, so we'll see how he grows.

Reviews are, as always, loved.


	8. Dawn of Disaster

**A/N.** Little bit of a filler chapter to tie up loose ends and herald the next arc. Don't worry, there's serious action coming next chapter.

/~/

Kimiko was a little conflicted on the subject of Shoto Todoroki.

In fact, she was pretty sure she went through the stages of grief. Denial- _no, no, no, this is a mistake, this can't be happening._ Anger- _what the hell? I don't deserve this!_

Then bargaining, in which she'd approached Aizawa about it.

He just looked down at her and said, "You have not figured out a heavy-hitting application of your quirk, nor managed to be efficient enough with your energy to be of use; no, Todoroki didn't succeed, but you didn't do anything either. Furthermore, you have not learned to control your extra power yet or learn hand-to-hand combat, leaving you defenseless once your main reserves are depleted."

Tail between her legs, Kimi exited the classroom.

The depression stage was tinged with awkwardness. She managed to function as a decent human being throughout most of the day, until Chemistry where they sat in groups and did group experiments. And she shared a group with Todoroki.

Yeah, that was awkward. It didn't help that Midnight kept _winking_ at her- and that winking wasn't all she did.

 _"Don't worry, boys are like that. You'll get over your lovers' spat soon."_

 _"We did_ not _have a lovers' spat!"_

 _"Sure."_

 _"We didn't!"_

It got to the point where she and Todoroki ended up pretending the other didn't exist just to banish the awkward tension. And when Kaminari, holding a tray of beakers, told her to pass one to Todoroki, she sort of shut down and just stared blankly for a moment.

That was the final straw. This was ridiculous; she was _not_ going through the goddamn stages of grief over a _test_. Even as she thought that, she recognized herself finally entering the stage of acceptance.

Sighing, Kimi approached Todoroki after class.

"I think," she said slowly, "that we have a problem."

"…Yeah."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

"No."

A little hesitantly, she said, "Meet me at the Beach Park?" There was a long pause before he nodded.

"…Okay."

/~/

They faced each other on the now-clean sands of Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, both struggling to find words to say. They ended up settling on a spar, because this world of power bred violence, until it was the only language they knew how to speak fluently anymore.

No quirks, no weapons, just pure hand-to-hand in a head-on fashion, which was exactly what Aizawa recommended her to never do. And it proved to be with good reason as Todoroki thoroughly thrashed her.

But the rush of battle singing in her blood relieved the pressure on her chest, her frustrations and energy channeled into doing her very best to pound him into the ground. Todoroki was strong and swift, dodging and striking cleanly, while Kimi's style was more flowing to suit her lack of raw strength, twisting around limbs and using her opponent's momentum against them.

But she was painfully inept in this area of combat; she lacked the sheer skill and reflex of someone properly trained in the art, and a few decisive strikes to her gut were enough to send her breathless and to surrender.

Kimi simply lay on the beach for a good while, enjoying the fruits of her labor; the beach was completely clean of trash, and had given her enough muscle and power to compete among her other classmates. It felt like forever since she was that desperate child, throwing herself into every exercise with an unhealthy obsession.

But All Might had realized and held her back, had taken the time to tell her about heroes and villains, and what it really meant to train, and what it meant to be strong. More importantly, he taught her to _rest_ , to take a break and enjoy life, and perhaps she had needed that more than the training itself.

Kimi sat up suddenly. "Todoroki? Why _did_ you choose to not use your fire?"

He'd been gazing at the softly roiling waves, mesmerized, but her voice visibly snapped him out of his thoughts. "I told you."

"You told me that you didn't need to. You clearly did."

"I thought otherwise at the time."

"Liar."

Her sudden boldness sparked a flicker of surprise in his eyes. "Oh?"

"You're many things, Todoroki, but stupid isn't one of them." Kimi paused. "And that wasn't a compliment."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "Of course not. And…it's a personal matter."

A personal matter. A personal matter was slitting someone's throat with a knife and trying not to vomit every time her eye caught on the glint of steel. But it doesn't matter how much her power repulsed her, because it was _hers_ and she had to hone it or die.

But Kimi didn't say any of that and merely sighed. "I will never understand you."

"Nor I you."

She blinked. "What?"

He fixed her with an inscrutable look. "Why a knife? You're clever; it's obvious. So surely you could try for a different, less lethal weapon? Unless your quirk specifies using a knife?"

Why a knife indeed. True, it was a strong weapon that she already owned, and summoning spent much less energy than creating (and sustaining). But that wasn't really it, Kimi mused; obtaining another weapon wouldn't be too difficult.

She suspected some sentimental part of her liked the philosophy of using the thing that had brought her torment and suffering and forcing it to work for her instead.

…That was actually kind of twisted.

But if Todoroki wanted to be mysterious and vague, she wasn't about to vomit her feelings at him. Instead, Kimiko smiled sweetly and said, "You don't need to know that."

He sighed and shook his head.

/~/

The weekend passed, and Kimi had Chemistry first the next school day, and was infinitely thankful that she and Todoroki had gone back to acting like normal functioning members of society. But upon arriving in the class, Midnight was nowhere to be found.

Instead, Present Mic greeted them with a voice much too loud for a Monday morning.

Unamused, Jiro called, "Why are you here."

"Ah, Midnight isn't available to teach today, so I'll be substituting instead! Now, class, let's take attendance…"

They went to work after that without further incident, doing a group analysis on the experiment from the previous day. Mina, who'd been the only decent member of the group (with Kaminari being academically inept and Kimi and Todoroki pretending the other didn't exist), looked remarkably not in the mood to carry the weight of the team today.

Taking pity on her, Kimi offered, "I believe the experiment was reliable as we accounted for a lot of constant variables and did many repeat testings."

"I disagree," Todoroki responded quietly, causing the rest of the group to blink in shock. "It could be more reliable as we had a very narrow range of independent variables."

There was a tense silence as Kimiko mulled that over, before saying, "Yeah, you're right."

And with that, the atmosphere in Chemistry class was back to normal, and Mina looked extraordinarily relieved.

/~/

The week passed with no unordinary events. Pro Hero Snipe took over for Midnight's History classes, and they had a Unit test in Math, which was a little more difficult than expected. There was also another Rescue assignment which Kimi scored high on, despite having been overly anxious about it.

On Thursday, Midnight's repeated absences became rather suspicious. Then on Friday, their Math teacher Ectoplasm went missing.

"Well, class," droned the dull voice of Shota Aizawa, "I'm handing your math tests back."

"Where's Ectoplasm?" Kaminari demanded. "And why isn't Midnight back yet?"

That sparked a rising chorus of, _"Yeah!", "It's been a week!"_ and _"What happened? We wanna know!"_

"Yeah, Ectoplasm's gone." Aizawa sighed. "That's three teachers the villains have taken now."

" _What?!_ "

He blinked. "You didn't know? Yamada should have told you on your first Chemistry class this week."

"He said that she was 'unavailable to teach," said Kimi. "Which was obviously extremely helpful."

Momo nodded sagely.

"Well, they're pro heroes; you have better things to worry about. Like the math tests I'm about to hand back." Aizawa smiled gleefully, causing Kaminari to groan and slam his head on the desk.

And so, life went on as usual.

/~/

Until Sniper was gone as well.

Momo scowled at Present Mic, who was now teaching three of their classes. "I'm sensing a problem here."

Todoroki gave her a dry stare. "How very perceptive."

"Why thank you."

That was three of their teachers gone, with apparently the homeroom teacher of another class as well. Kimi felt a sense of foreboding wash over her, icy cold and faintly ominous. _Something big is going to happen._

And she was right, just not in the darkly ominous way she was expecting.

"So!" All Might boomed. "The end of your Rescue Unit is coming up, and that means… a Unit Test!"

Cue the groans.

"Now, while you will not be marked individually, this test will not be an individual assignment. You will be split into teams-"

Kimi locked eyes with Momo.

"-that have already been chosen based on your previous group assignment. Also, the contents of the test will be kept secret until the day of, so be sure to prepare a flexible strategy. Alright! The groups are…" He listed them, inciting various levels of enthusiasm.

She ended up with Todoroki, Mineta, Ojiro and Uraraka against Momo, Shoji, Kirishima and Asui.

Kimi looked over Mineta's short stature and grimaced, a sinking feeling of realization in her gut. "All Might? Um, who chose these teams?"

"Since I was away for your first Rescue assignment, Aizawa was generous enough to take the time to come up with these teams," answered All Might. He didn't ask her why.

Aizawa. Of course. Todoroki and Uraraka she'd worked with (with varying levels of success), and Ojiro had paired with Uraraka. But Mineta…none of them had interacted with him in the assignment.

 _You vouched for him_ , Aizawa's voice whispered. _You deal with him._

Kimiko closed her eyes. She would make this work.

/~/

They were given the rest of class to talk with their teammates. Kimi's group huddled in the bottom-left classroom of the gym, discussing strategy. Or attempting to.

Kaminari blinked. "Run that by me again?"

Kimi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "We should plan out offensive and defensive moves to counter our opponents and their possible combinations. Or do you need me to tell you for the fourth time?"

"No, I mean _why_?" He said, "Shouldn't we be focusing on _us_ instead so we'll know what to do for every opportunity?"

"We _are_ focusing on us," Kimi all but growled. "We're seeing what _we_ will do to counter them in as many scenarios as possible. That forces us to get to know each other and our styles better if we want to be creative and flexible."

"Ah…sure."

"You know what… whatever. We should start by introducing and explaining our own quirks; we might have misinterpreted each other's based on just watching."

Uraraka was nodding. "That makes sense."

"Okay, my quirk allows me to wish for things and have them come true, but only small things like, summoning, creating, and being temporary strong." Well, it was a _bit_ more complicated than that. "Also, I can send my emotions into overdrive for bigging things, but that fries my nerves and incapacitates me for the rest of the match."

"I can manipulate gravity," offered Uraraka. "Like make things or myself lighter or levitate."

"Can you _increase_ the gravitational pull of things?" asked Kimi curiously.

"I...I've never tried."

She was going to say something else, but Kaminari interrupted her. "I can manipulate electricity! But only on a small scale. If I do it on a large scale, I short-circuit and become stupid until I recharge."

Kimi smirked. "When do you recharge?"

He paused, then realized. "Hey!"

She waved a hand. "Joking, joking. Todoroki?"

"I can create and control ice with my right side and fire with my left, though I never use my left side in combat." He gave Kimi a pointed look. "Don't question it."

"Not questioning it," she reassured him.

"Um," started Mineta. "I can pull off these sticky orbs from my head, and they regrow. Look!" He plucked one off and threw it at the wall, where it stuck.

"Cool," said Uraraka. There was a moment of silence, before she said, "So what now?"

Heads turned to look at Kimi, and she was startled by how expectant they all were. Like they were looking to _her_ to tell them.

"Ah-" The moment there was pressure, her mind just seemed to blank. _Okay, Kimi, think._ "We should pool together our knowledge to analyze our opponents' quirks. I know Kirishima's and Asui's, and have a good guess at Momo's."

"I think we all know Kirishima and Asui's," Todoroki commented.

"Oh, yeah, those are the obvious ones, aren't they?" said Kimi. "Anyways, Momo's quirk is Creation, where she can create matter. I don't know if she makes things out of nothing, in which the only reason she's limited is by lack of knowledge of her objects. If creates from matter in her body, that prevents her from making too many or too large things."

"One option means she can create a very small range of objects, but a lot of them," mused Todoroki. "The other means she can create a large range but few; a machine-gun or a jack of all trades."

"Or both," added Kaminari. "Now, anyone mind clarifying Shoji? He's kinda weird."

"He's not weird!" Uraraka defended hotly. "Mezo's just quiet, that's all. His quirk allows him to grow body parts on his tentacles, and he's also really strong."

"Well, him and Kirishima will probably be the close-range hard hitters of their team, something we lack, so we should go for a more defensive angle." Kimi glanced at Todoroki. "How dense is your ice?"

He smirked. "Dense enough."

They discussed for the rest of the class, before making plans to get together for practice over the weekend.

"My house doesn't have a place for destructive quirks," said Kimi. "So Kaminari and Todoroki wouldn't be able to practice."

Uraraka shook her head. "My house doesn't work either."

"Me neither."

"Nope, sorry."

Todoroki exchanged glances with Kimi. "Actually, we know a place."

/~/

 **A/N.** Welp, that's the chapter- I'm upping the length of the next one. This one was more of an…interlude; a bridge for the next event. Still, hope you enjoyed.

Next up, Kaminari tries not to electrocute everyone, the Rescue Exam doesn't go as planned, and shit starts to go down.


	9. League of Villains (I)

Arcing streaks of lightning swelled and exploded, positively _dazzling_ against the crystal sheet of ice covering the sand below. Kaminari straightened and flashed Kimi a grin. "How's that?"

She grinned back. "Brilliant."

/~/

The USJ was a gorgeous scene of catastrophe.

The different sections- shipwreck, fire, landslide; they were all a perfect recreation of a true scene of disaster, somehow managing to capture the feeling of destructive horror. Each scene had a different atmosphere, and the juxtaposition of it all wove a perfect picture of controlled disaster.

Kimi's team was positioned in the mountain district, their opponents in the fire section. Kimi gently lay their carton of eggs on a smooth patch of ground and opened it up.

"Six eggs," she murmured. "We should split them among us; the phrase 'don't keep your eggs in one basket' applies quite literally here, no?"

They had to protect these eggs, which represented the civilians, and also had to retrieve the eggs guarded by the other team, which represented hostages. The other team would be trying to do the same in turn, leading to a capture-the-flag style test.

"How should we split them?" asked Uraraka. "One of us will have to take two."

Kimi shook her head. "We shouldn't give everybody one. Kaminari's quirk comes from his body, and would probably break it by accident." She glanced at him. "No offense or anything."

"Heh, true enough." He smirked.

"Uraraka should take two and Mineta one, as they'll be playing defensive, supportive roles," Kimi suggested. "And Todoroki can take the last two as he'll be attacking from a distance."

"Hey, why do I only get one!" Mineta complained.

"Your pouch can only fit one."

"Oh. Yeah."

Kimi picked up the carton. "I'll take this as a ruse and play the role of decoy. Now move out!"

/~/

" _Aah!"_

Kimi whirled, seeing a blur of red rocket into Mineta and slam him into the ground. Kirishima thrust his arm into the air with a triumphant shout, a small spherical shape clutched within his fingers.

"Damn it," Todoroki swore, frost sweeping out from around him in a single, crashing wave. Shoji vaulted into it, both fists taking a chunk out of the ice. Kimi tried to make her way around them when hard metal hit her chest, knocking the breath from her body.

Momo flashed her a grin, swinging her staff over her shoulder. "Hey Kimi."

She managed an uneasy smile back, the wish for the knife on the tip of her tongue. Thirteen's voice drifted into her mind.

 _"Your powers are not meant to inflict harm. I hope that you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to help people."_

A shield materialized in her hands instead, its existence fueled by the blinding reminder of her promise to _protect_. The pole whizzed towards her and Kimi threw it up to meet it with a resounding clang. The two's eyes met for a moment, and she became acutely aware of Todoroki fighting Shoji at her back, and Momo's hyper focus on them.

 _She wants his egg; she figured out my carton's empty somehow._

"You're not getting through me," Kimi promised.

Momo cocked her head. "I don't have to."

That was what cemented it; Momo had figured out that Kimi was a decoy and was merely distracting her, preventing her from playing a supporting role.

Kimi backed away from the length of the staff, catching sight of Kirishima sprinting towards Todoroki who summoned a wall of ice, right before a brilliant burst of electricity roared into existence.

Then the world exploded.

 _Bang-_ the ring of lights around them shattered, casting darkness across the USJ. The air seemed to sparkle with the light of reflected glass. A pervasive malevolent force swept through the area, something swirling and purple opening up for _people_ to clamber through, tumbling over one another.

"I don't think this is part of the test," murmured Uraraka.

Kaminari snorted. "Really."

"W-what's going on?" Mineta stammered, slowly backing away. "Who are these people?"

With a sick feeling in her stomach, Kimi said, "Those are villains."

They all turned back to stare at the waves and waves of them, slowly but surely making their way forwards. The ten of them hadn't been noticed yet, protected from view by the terrain, but it was only a matter of time.

Uraraka let loose a shaky breath. "No…"

Something in Kimi was breaking, her house-of-cards façade of calm falling, collapsing in on itself. This was a familiar situation; _too_ familiar, memories of horror slick and icy cold as they washed down her back.

"Yes," Momo replied grimly. "We have to go, _now_."

Her mind was frozen in a shocked horror, but her legs moved, all on their own.

 _Fight your way out._

Yes. That's how it always was. Almost trance-like, Kimi lurched forwards, towards the villains.

A firm hand grabbed her shoulder before she could break into a run. "The hell do you think you're doing," Todoroki snarled. "We have to get away."

"Y-yeah. You're right."

More than anything in the world, Kimi _hated_ the feeling of fleeing. It was having your enemy at your back, knowing just a stumble could mean your demise, that sent her heart threatening to give out with every step.

She saw nothing, only the path in front of her and how much _time_ she was taking to get there. Fear reaped all other emotion from her body, sowing panic and leaving her blind; there was only the chase, and the ever-pressing doom that threatened to swallow her whole.

Step.

 _They're going to catch you._

Step.

 _They're going to break you._

Step.

 _Are you going to run forever?_

Kimi stopped.

"No more," she murmured. "Never again."

Todoroki's gaze snapped to her, a warning on his tongue. "Midoriya-"

"I run _towards_ my problems."

"You're going to _die_." He growled. "You're not thinking straight. If you want to go on ahead, get Aizawa."

The purpose - _destroy_ \- that had been dangling so clearly before her warped, sending her world spiraling onto its side. "Get…Aizawa?"

" _Go._ "

The world disappeared in a flash, and Kimi reappeared beside her teacher who was rapidly exchanging words with Thirteen. He turned, surprise flickering in his eyes. "Midoriya, what-"

"The villains," she gasped. "What's going on?"

"They bypassed all the sensors," he informed her grimly. "We don't have a good read on the situation yet. What of your team?"

"I left to find you."

"You _left_?" he growled. "No matter. Midoriya, Teleport out of here and alert the principal."

Leave this place. Yes. She could do that; it was so _easy_ to flee. But with that thought brought a pang of guilt and betrayal strong enough to make her stagger, and the land around her stayed exactly the same.

"I can't."

His eyes narrowed. "Control your emotions. This is what's best; you want that, don't you?"

She _knew_ that- she did. But there was also that little part of her that rejoiced at this easy way out, and she couldn't help but feel shame and guilt for being relieved; that was a horrible, disgusting thought that she couldn't allow herself to feel. Subconsciously, she _couldn't_ want it.

"I can't," she repeated.

"You're being selfish," he told her, and she felt something cold settle in her stomach. _I know._ "Go back to your team."

"W-what about you?"

"I join the fight."

"Sensei, _no-_ "

Then he leapt off the edge and into the fray. Kimi took a sharp intake of breath, her heart skipping a beat as her teacher's form was engulfed by the sea of villains. But then he exploded from within them, tearing through the enemies and tossing them around like ragdolls. Swift. Efficient. Precise.

 _This is what it means to be a pro._

She watched dumbly, struck with awe, before Thirteen's voice snapped her out of it. That artificial mask swiveled to face her.

"I don't know what happened with you just now, but remember, you're here-"

Kimi sucked in a breath.

"-to _protect_."

And then she was gone, light searing her eyes before her feet hit unsteady rock and she skidded down a slope. Giving up on balancing, Kimi pushed off and was falling, sailing through the air towards the masses of enemies below.

The shield on her arm dissolved, ripped away by the wind, and then there was cool steel in her hands and her heart in her throat.

Kimiko landed and spun, slashing the chest of the nearest villain. She pounced without missing a beat, rendering him out-of-commission before the others could swarm her then leapt away.

And then the world was a blur, this battle a dance. The villains became nothing but whirls of colors; slow, awkward, untrained, _weak;_ and this time she was strong- stronger than them. She rotated sharply on her heel and kicked one to the ground, smashing her hilt into his skull before throwing herself into a roll and springing up, slashing down another.

She turned in quick circles, eyes searching and scanning wildly for more but landing only on air and downed enemies. She paused, the ringing in her ears becoming more pronounced.

Silence.

The rest of her team and opposing team made their way down the hill, breathless. Then Kirishima whistled. "Well I'll be damned."

Still a little numb, Kimi swept her gaze across the group, before demanding, "Where's Todoroki?"

"We were hiding," Asui started, "but there was no space so he went to find a different place and was spotted. They chased him off somewhere else. He… didn't want to give away out cover," she finished, a little meekly.

"If we'd all revealed ourselves, we would've been overrun," Momo reasoned. "It was only logical."

Kimi exhaled. "Yeah. But still, I'll go to him just in case."

Momo smiled warmly. "Go."

 _I'm nearing the end of my reserves,_ Kimiko thought grumpily, but she teleported away nonetheless. There was the familiar swirl of light and gravity, then her foot hit the ground.

…and slipped.

Kimi flailed to balance herself, then surveyed her surroundings. Spreading out from beneath her feet was a smooth sheet of sparkling ice, parts of the shimmering sleet jutting out to encase the villains before her.

And in the middle of this kingdom of ice, perfectly poised, was Todoroki.

"You're late," he said simply.

Relieved and delighted, Kimi laughed. "I guess I am." But then her gaze darkened as she strode over to the nearest villain. "But I'm just in time to find out what the hell is going on."

"Oh, fuck you," the villain spat. "Damn kids."

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "Damn kid that singlehandedly beat, like, twenty of you. Now, tell me what's going on before I beat you too."

He snorted. "I'm done with this. Go to hell."

"Ah, but you're not done." Kimi made a show of looking over his frozen body. "Ice is quite brittle, you know. I could break you."

"As if you would."

Her hand curled around a bit of ice that jut out to encase his thumb. Revulsion and disgust churned within her at what she was doing, but Kimi drew up a smirk to hide it. "Wouldn't I?"

Todoroki came over to stand beside her, offering his silent support. She thanked him mentally, appreciating his presence at her side. At least she'd have a witness to her actions, as well as a judge.

A wedge of fear was driven into the villain's eyes. "I can't tell you," he hissed. "They'll kill me if they find out."

"They won't find out," Kimi crooned. "Besides, I'm a _lot_ closer. Now, who's 'they'?"

He resisted for a moment, before breaking. "The League of Villains."

Todoroki stiffened a bit, but Kimi had to keep up the act. A touch of saccharine dripped into her smile, turning it sickly sweet. "C'mon, this is like pulling teeth. What is the League? Who sent you?"

"We're a group of organized villains; I-I don't know who leads it, only that Shigaraki sent me. _Tomura_ Shigaraki. And-and Kurogiri- he's the one that warped us here with his quirk. That's the purple void that you saw."

"Good boy," Kimi purred, committing their names to memory. "Why are you here?"

"All Might. The plan was to kill him- _no!_ "

Kimi's hand around his thumb gave a jerk, snapping it right off. "All Might?" she snarled. "How do you plan to kill him? _Tell me!_ " Something inside her started screaming, roaring; disgust and horror and rage mixed into one, threatening to explode her from the inside out.

All Might was the final straw. _I'll break him piece by piece if that's what it takes_ -

Todoroki interfered, stepping in front of her, between her and the villain. "I'll take it from here."

The red tint to her vision disappeared; Kimi hadn't even noticed it was there until it was gone. She shook her head, the adrenaline flooding from her body, leaving legs trembling. _All Might. What do they want with him?_

For now, she'd let Todoroki play the good cop… except he wasn't.

Beneath the calm façade, there was something equally furious and vicious lurking behind those eyes.

His fingers drifted up to cup the side of the villain's cheek, crystal frost creeping up the side of his face, over his ear. In an equally icy voice, he said, "Tell me how you plan to kill him."

"I don't know!" The ice crept a little higher. "Really, I swear- _wait._ There's a creature, the _Noumu,_ I think it's called; that's all I know! Please!"

"Tomura Shigaraki," Kimi interjected, calmer this time. "What's his quirk."

" _I_ _don't know!_ "

She turned to Todoroki. "We're done here."

He nodded, and they strode off the frozen land of ice.

/~/

In a precious moment of respite, Kimiko let herself collapse at the edge of the Landslide Zone. After a moment, she said, "You're just going to leave them there to freeze to death?"

"I heated up the atmosphere before we left," Todoroki responded. "They'll thaw enough to survive but will be in no condition to cause trouble."

She took a shaky breath. "Okay."

He cast her a careful glance. "You had a… _unique_ reaction to the villains. One day you're going to tell me what happened today."

"And one day you're going to tell me why you don't use your fire," Kimi retorted, stiffening and glaring. Then she relaxed with a sigh. "But not today."

"Not today," he agreed.

/~/

They retraced their tracks and met up with the rest of their team, who'd also been heading towards them. Momo ran up to Kimi and enveloped her in a hug, murmuring, "Oh thank god."

She let her go, and Kimi smiled. "I didn't make it for the fight. And mister perfect over here, naturally, was perfectly fine."

Todoroki nodded. "Naturally."

Kimi punched him. "An-y-ways, we did a bit of interrogating, and apparently they're, ah, going to kill All Might."

Kaminari snorted. "Good luck with that."

"No, they could actually be a threat," Momo countered. "Whoever's coordinating these villains clearly isn't stupid; they planned this. They chose a secluded area away from U.A. to attack, and found a way in without setting off the alarms. They even blocked all forms of communication; Kaminari couldn't get through to the school. Also, I think they're the ones who've been causing the teachers to disappear."

Kimi blinked. "What?"

"It makes sense," she reasoned. "They've been picking off the staff one by one, reducing our backup in case we did get through to the school. They're very thorough."

"So All Might really could be in danger," Mineta summed up, frowning.

"Wait," Todoroki interjected. "Where's Kirishima, Uraraka and Shoji?"

"They went to sneak round the back to find Bakugo's group," said Asui. "We're going to stay here to regroup."

Nodding, Kimiko spun in a circle to assess their surroundings. "There's still another group of villains near the center, but Aizawa-sensei seems to be taking care of them. But… that purple mist. That's a villain named Kurogiri."

Mineta blanched. "That's a _person_?"

She nodded grimly. "Yeah. He's the one who brought the villains here, and he might bring more. If anything, we should take him out."

"What? We can't do that!" he shook his head frantically. "We should leave that work to the pros."

Kimi narrowed her eyes. "They're threatening All Might. That means we do everything in our power to stop them."

"You're being reckless again," Todoroki murmured.

She whirled to face him. "No. Not this time. Not All Might."

"And the pros aren't coming," Momo added. Kimi shot her a faint smile, happy she was on her side. "If they have backup, we're going to fall eventually. Besides; there's still a couple more villains here. Add any more, and we'll be overwhelmed. But," she said, glancing at Kimi. "We should at least wait for the other teams to come here."

"Yeah," she relented. "Okay."

The other arrived within the next few minutes, led by Bakugo and the rear brought up by Tokoyami.

Bakugo swaggered up, a sneer on his lips. "So, Midoriya. Didn't get your ass kicked, huh?"

Kimi let herself smile. "Nah, but it looks like you did."

He bared his teeth. "Listen here you little shit-"

"Hey, play nice," Kirishima chided. "And Bakugo, now's not the time for one of your pissing contests."

"I don't have _pissing contests-_ "

"Anyways," Mina broke in. "Hi guys. We sent Iida to tell the principal what's going on, but it'll be a while before he comes back. So what's the plan?"

"See?!" Mineta exclaimed. "The pro's will be coming! We should just hide."

"He just left, and it's a long way from here to U.A," she warned. "We should think of something else."

Momo cast Mineta a look. "The purple void-like substance that transported the villains here is actually the work of another villain- Kurogiri. He's that swirling mass of fog over there." She pointed into the distance. "We were worried that he'd call for reinforcements so we thought we could team up and take him out."

Asui squinted. "What about the guy next to him?"

"That's just another villain," Kirishima said casually. "We can take him, no problem."

"Don't get overconfident now," Momo warned.

"Yeah, yeah."

"You guys done?" Bakugo snapped. "I'm gonna go beat their asses."

"Wait," Uraraka said. "Aizawa-sensei's attacking them."

Mineta sighed. "Oh, good. Now we really don't have to do anything."

"No," Kimi objected. "Now we fight the rest of the villains to keep them off his back."

Kaminari smirked. "Alright, let's go."

/~/

They'd only just cleared away the mass of villains in the center of the USJ, when the previously downed ones had recovered, and were quickly surrounding them.

Panting, Kimiko breathed, "Todoroki, ice wall please?"

He shook his head. "Out of energy."

"Damn. Kaminari?"

"He's stupid again," said Jiro.

Kimi cursed again, looking over the situation. "Alright, their ranks are thin over there; we'll exploit that. On the count of three?"

Grim nods.

"One."

"Two."

" _Die!_ "

Bakugo soared ahead of them all in a mass of exploding light. The circle of villains swiftly turned upon him, closing in.

Kirishima leapt in after him with a roar, smacking the nearest villains to a side, each of his blows drawing blood. Gritting her teeth, Kimi followed after, Todoroki at her side.

She'd just finished off a reptilian-like villain when another immediately jumped her. Taken by surprise, Kimi was forced to backtrack, stumbling over her own feet.

"Duck!"

She did so without question, and Momo's metal staff soared over her head like a javelin and crashed into the villain, knocking him to the ground. Then Kirishima pounced on him, slamming his rock fists into his face.

Kimi straightened, breathless. "Thanks guys."

He smirked. "Anyti-" An axe to the chest promptly cut him off, and a heavily muscled villain wound it back, preparing to swing again.

Asui's tongue wrapped around Kirishima, yanking him to a side. The axe cleaved the air, hitting only earth. In the brief moment where the villain struggled to lift it back up, Kimi kicked it out of his hand.

The weapon fell towards a downed Mineta, and Kimi gave a cry, reaching forwards in vain. Uraraka lunged forwards to tap the handle; the axe stopped, floating in midair. Kimi breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Mineta to his feet.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Kimi's answer died in her throat as the sun was suddenly blocked out. There were a series of sickening squelches, before Shoji removed his wing-like arms from over them, multiple arrows lodged in his flesh.

Her eyes widened. "Oh…oh god…"

But there wasn't time to say anything, _feel_ anything- there were still more villains, fanning out and approaching.

Class 1-A slowly backed away in fear.

 _Cornered._ Another familiar situation. One that Kimi promised she'd never let happen to herself and would never let happen to _anyone else_. It had been her promise, and she'd failed.

A growl escaped her lips. "Damn villains."

"What do we do?" Asked Uraraka. "They're coming!"

 _We have to slow them down._ "Mineta," Kimi called sharply. "Pepper them with your balls and cover the ground between us and them as well."

"What?" He said. "Then they'll notice me! They'll single me out!"

"Sabotage," she told him roughly. "Stalling. Combat. I _vouched_ for you!"

"I…I…"

"Now or never, Mineta," she said. "Unless you want us all to die?"

"No!" He screamed. "No, no, _no!_ " And then he was flailing, throwing ball after ball and sowing chaos between the villains' ranks. The class breathed a collective sigh of relief, though not quite relaxing. This was their chance, and they'd do their damned best to turn the tide.

Sero's tape flashed in her vision, clearing away the first row. Then Shoji and Kirishima leapt in, followed by the resounding blasts of Bakugo's explosions. Specks of blood stained metal as Kimi slashed at flesh, again and again, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow at her back.

But it still wasn't enough.

A pair of villains rounded on Uraraka, swiftly taking her down. Rikido Sato fell afterwards, followed by Sero and Asui. They were on the verge of being completely overwhelmed before a blinding streak of ice crashed through ranks, freezing the momentum.

Kirishima reached out and caught Todoroki as he fell, patting him on the back. "Nice one."

Todoroki huffed tiredly in return.

The remaining villains approached warily, saw Todoroki out of commission, and pressed onwards with renewed confidence. Kimi swayed, managing to drop into a fighting stance. The rest of her class looked equally exhausted but determined to go down fighting.

Then a fierce wind ripped past them, followed by a triumphant cry. Kimi glanced up to see a streak of color flash through the air, hitting the ground with a crash.

All Might was here.


	10. League of Villains (II)

Everything froze.

Everything except All Might.

There was a _whoosh_ of ripping wind, and the front line of villains simultaneously buckled, falling to their knees. A downed Aizawa was whisked away in the next heartbeat, the enemy ranks flayed and tattered in his wake. What was left of the opposition swiftly retreated but All Might didn't pursue, choosing to stand guard before his students.

Kimi exhaled sharply, not quite daring to feel relief just yet. The villain from beside Kurogiri -presumably Shigaraki- ambled forwards, movements awkward from the unsettling greyed hands that clamped down on parts of his body. "All Might," he pronounced with a curious tilt of his head. "How nice of you to join us."

His next step didn't even land; All Might disappeared, so fast there wasn't so much as a blur, but Shigaraki intoned, "Noumu." and some horrible, mutated creature sprung from the warp gate, intercepting the blow. Dust scattered like a fleeing flock of birds and the very _world_ shuddered from the impact.

The creature didn't even flinch.

Something horrible was dawning in Kimi's gut; cold but cloaked in the harshness of reality.

With a grunt, All Might landed another punch -a direct hit- but the creature didn't buckle. A feral scream erupted from its mangled maw as it lashed out. All Might ducked before springing back up into an uppercut, only to meet unyielding flesh.

He growled, "Well in that case-"

And they were gone, dust settling in their wake. Kimiko glanced around sharply to see the two half-encased in the purple warping energy. And the monster had All Might in its grip.

With dawning horror, she watched All Might thrash but to no avail; with a sickening sense of finality, the warp gate around them began to close at their waists. _Its going to tear him apart,_ she realized. _No..._

The world lurched forwards- or maybe that was her. Running, once again, without any rational thought. What could she possibly do? There was nothing in her reserves, no hope in her heart- nothing but her body and the knife in her hand. The amorphous form of Kurogiri twisted to face her, a swirling hole opening to devour her whole; but still she _just couldn't stop._

 _All Might!_

"Midoriya, get out of my way!" There were rapid footsteps from behind her, the radiant rays of the sun blinking out of existence as a form leapt up to obstruct it's light. Vaulting over her, Bakugo thrust both his palms forwards, back arching, and the following explosion sent her ears ringing as pure _power_ crashed against the enemy and declared itself victorious.

As if to combat the wave of heat, a sharp chill flooded the air, crystal ice racing up half of the Noumu's body, halting just before it reached All Might.

Kimi turned. "Todoroki-"

His eyes flicked over to hers. "Not now."

Like some immortal deity reborn, All Might sprung from the monster's clutches and leapt triumphantly into the air.

The Noumu was devoured by the warp portal and reappeared some ways off, all writhing muscle and inhuman growls. Kimi sagged in relief as All Might approached the weakened creature and allowed the apathy and fatigue to finally devour her mind. The sense of action, of responsibility within her was roughly blown aside; this wasn't her fight anymore.

But then the creature began to regrow.

Suddenly transfixed, her eyes stared at the raw flesh that wriggled and wormed from the socket of the arm with a sense of mesmerized horror, a white, panicked terror devouring her mind and her stomach giving a revolted lurch. Raw flesh. Guts. Something warm and slippery was rising up her throat, and her hand reached up to claw at her neck as if to push it down.

By some miracle, she forced down the contents of her stomach and wrenched her eyes away from the regrowing muscles and tendons, trying desperately to think about anything else. Like a plan.

Yet the moment she tried to care, the apathy came surging up to devour her in a crashing wave. Mental collapse. Emotional exhaustion. Her mind and body had unanimously decided that they'd had enough and drowned her being in heavy resignation.

The Noumu finished growing, and everyone collectively snapped out of their shock. Human fist rammed into beastly flesh, then the Noumu met the next blow with it's own- an equal match for the Fist of God.

Punch, swipe, jab. The two became a writhing blur of color, neither giving an inch to what seemed to be their natural-born enemy. All Might's fish lashed out with the power to slice waves, and the creature met it with its own.

The unstoppable force stared down the immovable object, and an unfeeling monster gazed back. Then they upped the intensity and speed, the ground getting torn up by the resulting wind and the very world being ripped to shreds by each crushing exchange.

It was two forces of nature colliding; one would win, or none at all.

Kimi was snapped out of her transfixion, forced to dig her fingers into the soft earth in order to not be blown back. Beside her was a snarling Bakgugo, clawing at the earth with equal vigour. Yet even then, they both watched the fight. Speed, power, precision- they were evenly matched, equal and opposite. Until-

It wasn't equal anymore.

Three people realized the shift in power- Kurogiri and Shigaraki, as well as Kimi herself, the dormant power in her veins rearing up to sing out to its other half.

The battle could no longer be tracked by the naked eye; they became a pure, roiling mass of punches and power. Then something within her _screamed_ and fierce cerulean light blazed in All Might's eyes. With a new, frightening intensity, he ripped into the Noumu. Blow after blow it received, its flesh giving way as it ricocheted from one final strike and was launched into the air.

For a single, breathless moment, her idol, her mentor, and the symbol of peace watched the Noumu fly.

Then he turned back to Shigaraki.

"Surrender," he said. The strength of the world was behind that word.

For a moment, the only reaction from the villains' side was the unsettled shifting of Kurogiri. Shigaraki twitched, and a gnarled hand came up to scratch at his neck.

Then he stopped. Turned his one visible eye to bore balefully into All Might.

"Die," he said.

He began running forwards, the speed almost laughable compared to the show they'd just witnessed. But amidst her nineteen other classmates, only Kimi was aware of All Might's condition; he couldn't fight another battle. Weakness was something she was painfully familiar with, and she knew that frustration was a given acquaintance. Rational thought was thrown aside- All Might knew he couldn't hold out much longer, but he'd fight regardless.

 _It's gonna tear him apart._

 _You have to_ _move_ _._

But there was a sea of lethargy in her mind, and she only really started drowning once she began to struggle. It was much easier to just sit at the bottom and...give in.

 _No. Look at yourself._

Care. She had to _care._ Just a little bit, and she'd draw out a drop of One for All's power to enhance it, damn the consequences. She glanced at Shigaraki, halfway to All Might, and imagined those cursed hands closing around his throat, the mighty Symbol of Peace's face locked in a permanent state of horror. Her teacher, her mentor was in need, and she had to _help._

It was just a little bit, just a fraction of a _'what can I do?'_ and it was enough for One for All to blow it up into a raging torrent of desperate worry. Shigaraki was ten steps away, then six, then four, and her mind was desperately racing for some idea to cling to.

A gun. Shoot him- eliminate the enemy.

 _I don't...I don't want..._

Kimi growled and shook her head. Weakness or compassion- whichever it was it didn't mean a _fucking thing_ if it meant All Might was going to die!

" _Shigaraki might want her."_

The villain's hand was a heartbeat away, and from the very depths of her agonized heart, Kimi wanted him to _fail._

Long, thick ropes lashed into existence to twine around his hands, writhing like some strange enchanted serpent. Kimi flashed beside him, using her momentum to knock him off balance. With a precision she didn't know she had, she _saw_ what she had to do, and executed it with flawless accuracy.

Shigaraki was maneuvered into an unyielding hold, six inches of stainless steel at his throat.

 _One more act to put on,_ Kimi thought sorrowfully, and _became_ her role.

Her voice was silky smooth and dangerously soft as she said, "Move, and you die."

"Foolish child," Shigaraki rasped. "Release me."

She dug the edge of her blade in deeper, more insistently. "Return the teachers, villain, or you all die here today."

Kurogiri recoiled sharply, glowing yellow eyes narrowing, but he said nothing. She could have sworn she heard All Might murmur, _"Kimiko",_ and the tenderness put into her name was heartbreaking.

 _Don't think about that, only the act._

A false ray of sunshine- all light and no warmth; that was her confidence, but it would have to do. She smiled darkly and hoped to hell and back that her hands didn't tremble. "Well?" she spat viciously. "I have no issue dispatching scum like you. What will it be?"

" _Kurogiri_ ," Shigaraki hissed.

Tense silence corrupted the scene, the purple void mulling over cost and sacrifice, and the terrible art of contemplating human worth in a way that only villains could.

One. Shigaraki's breaths quickened, a little frantic, a little mad.

Two. Steam was pooling at her feet, barely noticeable and only in the corner of her eye. She had a precious handful of moments before All Might was out of commission, and it would all be over.

 _Three._ Her gritted jaw snapped open, something sharp and horrible prepared to lash from her throat that she'd hate forever. But Kimi was saved from having to press harder, as Kurogiri seemed to bow in resignation.

"Very well."

And Kimi could breathe again.

The purple void swooned open, roped and bound figures tumbling through a moment later. Kurogiri swirled then unfurled, clearly agitated. "Now release Shigaraki."

The moment she relaxed, the blade leaving his throat, Shigaraki gave a sudden jerk in her grip and managed to twist his hands around so the palms faced the ropes that bound them. All five fingers dug into it and it dissolved into thin strands, then nothingness.

Kimi jerked away from him sharply. _I have to get away, now!_ But her backwards stumble was slow and awkward, the emotional urgency she summoned not quite catching up with the situation. Shigaraki leaned forwards hungrily, right hand outstretched-

A thin wall of cement shot between them that crumbled a moment later, but it was enough for Kimi to scramble out of reach to All Might's side. He flashed her an unreadable look, and she quelled under his gaze.

"We're here, everybody!" called a voice far too cheerful for the situation at hand. Principal Nezu's small form was surrounded by an entourage of pro heroes, and he tilted his head calmly. "I hope the delay didn't cause any inconveniences."

Kimiko gave a strangled laugh.

A frustrated snarl burst from Shigaraki's throat, and he swivelled sharply, rigid fury lining his posture. He hissed to Kurogiri, "We're beaten. We leave now," and glanced over his shoulder.

"But we'll be back."

With those parting words, there wasn't really anything they could do to stop the purple void of Kurogiri from devouring him whole. Kimiko turned to All Might, grasping for something to say, but a fierce blast of steam rolled off him and it suddenly didn't matter anymore.

/~/

"Uh, hey," said Kirishima on the bus ride back. "Where'd All Might go?"

Kaminari shrugged. "I lost track of him after that steam and all those cement walls."

Kimiko leaned back in her seat, letting the surrounding conversations envelop her, content to enjoy the feeling of normality. Something red stained her hands, and she was sure to keep her palms face down and out of sight.

 _I need to be stronger._

/~/

"All Might," she said, strained.

His bandaged form -his true form- turned stiffly to face her, his crudely-angled face an unreadable mask. "I'm sorry, young Midoriya."

"W-what?"

"I'm sorry," he repeated heavily. "It is my deepest regret that I am in a position to tell you that you...you did the right thing. And I'm sorry."

Her head started shaking, an almost imperceptible motion. "That couldn't have been right. There had to have been a better, nobler way."

"You did the best you could, given the situation."

 _No._ "I thought I'd gotten strong," she said. "But strength...strength isn't taking hostages and fighting fire with fire. It's being above it all, having the power to control the situation to win, yet still being _better_ than the people you tore down. I was supposed to be better than that."

"Don't put yourself down, Midoriya." All Might's expression was pained. "That kind of strength will come in time. You were very brave, and remarkably coolheaded in a bad situation. You even got the kidnapped teachers back."

"Right." Kimi took a deep breath, changing the topic. "The teachers. Why did they capture them instead of killing them off?"

" _Shigaraki might want her. You know how he likes to collect."_

"That's a story for another day."

And Kimiko decided that she didn't really want to know. Besides, such a haunted look had flitted into All Might's eyes that it would have brought her physical pain to press him further.

"…Okay," she said quietly. "Thank you for everything."

With a wave of farewell, she took her leave.

/~/

A little dumbfounded, Kimi stared at the hordes and hordes of reporters crowding the U.A. entrance. From her side, Momo gave a groan. "I guess this was to be expected," she said.

"Expected, but not welcomed," Kimi muttered back.

Valiantly, they fought their way through the crowd, various microphones being shoved into their faces.

"You're one of the students that were in the attack! What do you know about the incident?"

"Um-"

"How did the villains get in?"

An elbow shoved her out of the way before she could answer, causing her to scowl.

"How would you describe the events of the attack?"

"How were they planning to take down All Might?"

"Is it true they call themselves the League of Villains?"

Annoyed now, Kimi scoffed, "No, they were the Powerpuff Girls. Now can we actually get to class, 'cause we're about to be late."

It still took a bit of scuffling around before they made it past the media reporters and journalists and fled upstairs. Momo gave a sigh. "Good grief."

The class of 1-A was in utter pandemonium, several heated conversations going on at the same time. Kaminari gave an excited whoop, declaring, "The news channels love us; we're practically celebrities!"

Jiro rolled her eyes. "The top hero school was attacked by villains- that's what they care about, not us."

He scowled. "You're such a downer. Be positive for once, will you?"

"I'm being realistic."

"Your being emo."

Jiro narrowed her eyes. "Did you just call me emo?"

"So what if I did?" Kaminari taunted.

Trying to divert the oncoming storm, Kimi offered, "Well we still got a lot of attention on us now regardless."

"I wonder who our substitute homeroom teacher will be?" Mina piped up from amidst a nearby conversation.

"Well," said Momo. "It can't be Aizawa-sensei. Judging from the extent of his injuries, he'd be in no condition to-"

A heavily bandaged form trudged through the door, instantly quieting the class.

"Well, looks like it's Aizawa-sensei," said Kimi.

"I...what...he's..."

"In good enough condition to teach?"

Momo sighed. "Apparently. I underestimated the power of modern day healing."

"Yes. Yes you did."

Uncaring of the horrified eyes on him. Aizawa took his place at the front of the room, fully revealing to the class his completely bandaged face. Looking closely, Kimi could see two slits for his eyes to peek through.

"Well class," he said, the bandages shifting slightly. "The first matter of class today will be to elect a class president. Decide amongst yourselves however you wish."

And the class was back to being in chaos.

/~/

With the help of Iida, they organized an anonymous election. Slips of paper were handed out, written on, and tallied up.

Aizawa-sensei slowly scrawled the results onto the board, the sound of chalk on chalkboard penetrating the tense silence. Yuga Aoyama had only one vote, presumably from himself. Then was Mina with two and Asui with none, all the way down to Kimiko's name.

Three.

She blinked in surprise; two others had voted for her, along with herself. _Who-?_ Then Mineta was revealed to have none, and Momo with four.

Aizawa scanned the board with a detached interest and pronounced, "Yaoyorozu's the President, Midoriya's Vice."

 _...Whoa._

A murmur of acceptance bubbled through the students, and Kimiko felt a slow smile inch across her face, a sort of disbelieving happiness sending a gentle warmth through her. Momo stood up and began to graciously express thanks and Kimi had half a heart to do the same, but settled for just sitting in her seat with a stupid grin on her face.

"Yes, yes, congratulations," said Aizawa. "We'll discuss your roles afterschool. Now onto the second order of business; the U.A. Sports Festival."

Kimi shot upright in her chair, and Kirishima softly cheered.

"Hold on," said Jiro. "Is it really such a good idea to host the Sports Festival so soon after the villains snuck in? We're all in one place, damaging each other. It's like we're begging to be attacked."

"I told you to stop being such a downer," hissed Kaminari.

Jiro cast him an offhand glance, before staring resolutely at Aizawa.

"The administration feels that this is crucial to maintaining the appearance of our strength," said Aizawa. "And we have taken much more precautions this year. But it's more than that. As you all know, the Sports Festival is a golden opportunity for all of our students; it's the most watched event in the _entire world_ , pushing even the Olympics to a side. Pro heroes, companies- this is where they scout you."

Mineta's voice quavered. "B-but..."

"Once a year, thrice in a lifetime," he declared. "This event could determine the path of your future, whether you succeed... or fail."

Kimi clenched her fists.

"So," said Aizawa. "You better not slack off on training."

There was a roaring chorus of _"Yessir!"_ , but Kimiko stayed silent, something cold and deadly building within her.

/~/

"The sports festival, hm?" Momo said, a little too casually. "A golden opportunity."

Todoroki made a noise of acknowledgement, while Kimi merely nodded. Momo blinked at their serious expressions, trying again. "So, what'd you guys think?"

"It's..." Kimi struggled to find words. Exciting? Stressful? A careful balance inbetween, precariously tilting between the two; a passionately awaited day, and a dreaded one. World changing or world shattering.

She settled for, "Important."

 _Really,_ she quipped to herself. _How enlightening._

Momo seemed to think along those lines and shook her head exasperatedly. Equally simply, Todoroki stated as if it were plain as day, "I'm going to win."

"Um, no," said Momo. "That would be me."

Kimiko opened her mouth to declare, _No, it'll be_ me, but the words never escaped her lips, feeling awkward and clumsy as they got stuck in her throat.

The thought, the need was left to foster within her mouth, turning sour and rancid. _Spit it out, Kimi_ , she thought fiercely. _Say what you mean; take what you want. You. Will. Win._

As if he could read the words burning within her, Todoroki said quietly, "I hope you heard that, Midoriya."

She smiled. "Oh, I heard you."

Momo matched her smile, equally pleasant and equally dangerous underneath. A predator's smile.

The game was on.

/~/

She became painfully aware of the gentle thumps of her footsteps that sounded much too loud as All Might silently glided up the stairs. His large, muscled form and strong declarative steps should have evoked _some_ noise, but his steps were completely soundless as they impacted the stairs.

All Might didn't _really_ need thumping stomps and loud declarations to announce that He Was Here. He simply was, and everyone within a hundred meters knew it- whether they wanted to or not. His presence simply _demanded_ attention, and all eyes were naturally drawn to his aura of strength.

"So..." Kimi began awkwardly. "Lunch?"

The moment the door closed, steam rolled off his form, revealing the skinny figure of his true form. All Might was somber, a sharp contrast to the exuberance with which he'd snatched her away from her friends.

Kimi still remembered the careful way Todoroki's gaze had trailed after them.

"I called you here for a reason," said All Might. "I'm sure you're aware of the importance of the Sports Festival."

She nodded. " _Very_ aware."

"Then I won't have to impress it into you again. Now, you know that I received heavy damage during my battle with the Noumu, going beyond my limits."

"...Yeah..."

He closed his eyes. "It was one time too many. My new time limit in my other form has been reduced to fifteen minutes."

Letting that sink in, Kimi tried to push aside the dawning horror that threatened to corrupt her and failed. A crushing sense of tragedy struck her, and she put up no struggle as it overtook everything. She sucked in a shaky breath. "I'm sorry. I should've done more, been better-"

All Might _laughed._

"W-what?"

"We really are alike, Kimiko." He chuckled. "Don't apologize; it's not all bad. Although there is one thing. The villains are beginning to notice my diminishing power; they're getting more confident, and there has to be someone to step up and take my place." He paused, gazing at her intently.

"That someone is you, Kimiko. _You_ will be the new Symbol of Peace."

She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't _believe_ what she was hearing. It was all happening too fast, expectations and pressure crushing the breath from her lungs. She wasn't ready, she couldn't _imagine_ what it would take to be ready, she didn't know if she would ever be ready-

She would be ready.

All Might turned from his spot at the window, and the force of all his intense attention caused her to do a double take. "Think of the Sports Festival as your debut. You will show the world exactly what the fledgling Symbol of Peace can do. You will take the competition by storm and say, 'I am here!'"

The bright future was within grasp. All Kimi had to do was dare to reach out, wrap her fingers around it, and _take it._

Steadily she said, "I will."

/~/

 **A/N.** And so begins the Sports Festival arc, which will certainly have... important consequences.

Reviews are love.


	11. Be Better

**A/N.** Before I start, I just wanted to sincerely thank all of the people who've left their lovely reviews for this story. I honestly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

 **/~/**

Two long strides brought Todoroki firmly before her. His eyes flickered back and forth as he cast a quick glance around the clean sands of the beach. "It still amazes me that this used to be such a dump."

"Uh, yeah," Kimi mumbled (she had, after all, been the one to clean it), and swiftly changed the topic. "How are your injuries healing?"

"Adequately; Recovery Girl is truly an accomplished medic. Yours?"

"I'm alive," she replied with a smile, spreading her hands.

He snorted. "I see that."

"So…" He'd been the one to initiate their meeting this time, and Kimi struggled to find a polite way to ask why.

Todoroki saved her from asking by simply stating, "The villains."

"Yes."

"Why did you go after them, Midoriya?" There was a hint of strain in his voice, and his mismatched eyes were pinned intently on her.

Kimiko stiffened. "Not today?" _I don't want to answer._

A humorless smile ghosted over his lips. "That's what you said last time." _Please?_

"Ah, I did, didn't I?"

"Mmhm."

She sighed. "You know I don't owe you an answer."

"I know."

"Well I'm glad we're on the same page."

"And _that_ sounds like dodging the question," He pointed out, causing Kimi to purse her lips. After a beat of hesitation, he murmured, "...I don't have a happy relationship with my father back at home."

A private detail. A peace offering.

She softened, though only allowing simple calm to show on her face. "I had an… incident with villains as a young child."

Todoroki nodded. "I see."

 _Do you?_ The trace of bitterness that laced the thought was involuntary, a long-buried emotion given chance to rise up.

Almost as if he sensed her thought, he amended, "Or at least I hope to, in time." He flashed her one of those rare smiles; small, but genuine. She couldn't help but let a smile of her own blossom on her face.

"Quite the smooth talker, aren't you?"

"I could say the same for you." And then wryly, "I'm sure those villains would agree."

Those villains, encased in ice, who she'd torn information and dignity from. That villain, Shigaraki, who she'd held at knifepoint.

Kimi grimaced. "Please don't remind me."

He shrugged. "I suggest you don't toil over it; I would have done the same."

"Why?" she said. "There had to have been a better, _righter_ way…"

"Was there?" Todoroki's eyes slid from the softly roiling waves to meet hers. "Sometimes all we need is more force. Other times we need speed. But sometimes, the best way to take what you want is to just…ask."

Kimi gave an unpleasant smile, stomach churning at the thought. "Perhaps."

"Allow me to demonstrate," he said. "Midoriya, what did All Might want with you today?"

His words were a gust of chilly wind that split the pleasantly warm air. What would she tell him? Surely not the truth- she'd been open today, but that was too far. A sudden tension seemed to undercurrent the atmosphere, and Kimi tried to laugh it off. "A seamless segue," she joked, but Todoroki was unamused.

"Yes," he replied blandly, waiting with an almost _demanding_ air.

She would not betray All Might, the person who'd done so much for her; she would not risk his secret for _anything_. Wordlessly, Kimi shook her head.

"Kimiko."

His use of her first name caused her to blink, but if he was expecting her to soften because of it, he'd be sorely mistaken. All Might had _trusted_ her.

With false sweetness, Kimi replied, "Shoto."

"The greatest hero," he said with a bit of a snarl. "What do you have to do with him?"

"I helped him out of a tight spot back when the villains attacked the USJ. He wanted to thank me in person."

Todoroki dismissed it swiftly. "We both know that's not it. That alone wouldn't have you so defensive; this is something that's been going on for a long time. What is it, Midoriya?"

"I think we need to revisit that part where we agreed I don't owe you answers."

Kimi held his gaze levelly. After a tense moment, he said stiffly, "Then I think we're done here." Todoroki got up and walked away with a curt nod of his head, leaving her to stare after him with a feeling of cold finality.

She didn't regret her decision; this was not a line she would cross, and that was that.

/~/

The next day after homeroom, Kimi packed up her things with deliberate slowness, waiting for the rest of her class to trickle out of the room. Aizawa-sensei stared her down as she purposely fumbled a pen, waiting for Kirishima and Mina to make their exit.

"Out with it," he snapped.

Unperturbed by his bluntness (she was honestly used to it at this point), she calmly said, "I want you to teach me hand to hand combat."

Without missing a beat, he replied, "Have All Might do it."

"He's a great teacher, and he's been helping me out with creative applications of my quirk, but his straight-on style of combat isn't something I can use."

"That is true," he relented. "What are you asking?"

"Oh, just half an hour every other day. Familiarize me with your fighting style, give a couple tips on mine, you know."

"Arrogant of you to presume I have the time." The words weren't given with the sharp bite of dismissal but with a soft curiosity, as if he were waiting to see how she'd reply.

"When the villains attacked the USJ, I couldn't teleport to get the principal because my personal emotions got in the way," Kimi started.

Aizawa stared her down. "You're trying to remind me why this is worth my time."

Ignoring that, she went on. "That's a point for your hypothesis that eventually my emotions are going to get the better of me and something's going to happen. You've expressed that you believe me a security risk- it's your duty as a teacher to keep an eye on risks, as well as manage them. It's _also_ your duty as a teacher to indulge students who need a little extra academic help. Not to mention you seem to be personally curious about my quirk," she added daringly, then held her breath.

Aizawa's face remained unreadable, and the bandages layering his face didn't help. With an offhand shrug, he said, "Very well."

With a relieved sigh, she said, "Oh, _thank you-_ "

"Meet me in the gym tomorrow after school," he said. "And be on time; you won't like what happens if you're late. Actually," he added as an afterthought, "You probably won't like what happens anyways."

"…Yes, sensei."

/~/

 _I wonder if All Might is really recovered enough to be teaching,_ Kimi wondered as she made her way down to the gym. His external injuries hadn't been severe, but the internal strain One for All put on him had been immense. Before worry could fully take hold of her, Kimi shook it off. _He'll be fine-_

"Kimi-chan?"

She blinked. "Midnight?"

The pro hero flashed a dazzling smile. "Yup. Listen, Kimi-chan, I just wanted to thank you for what you did during the USJ attack- I heard what happened from All Might. You were really brave."

 _What I did?_ Then realization dawned. _Oh._

Bargaining for the captured teachers. Pressing a blade to Shigaraki's throat. Threatening to _push_.

Something within her gave a great shudder, a part of her wanting to cry out that her goal had _never_ been to inspire fear- that it had always been about hope, not terror. Midnight must have seen the conflict in her expression and gave her a reassuring smile. "You did the right thing," she told her gently.

But as Kimiko began to walk down the stairs to the gym, the oppressive feeling of unease -a thick, liquid gloom- trailed her like some twisted shadow.

 _Everyone keeps telling me I did the right thing... but then why does it feel so wrong?_

/~/

Aizawa cast a glance at the clock on the wall, the seconds hand finishing a full circle around the clock as he did so. "Cutting it a bit close, Midoriya."

"Sorry sensei. But," she added a little cheekily, "I'm still technically on time."

"Technically," he agreed. "But that doesn't mean this is going to be any easier, you know."

Kimiko couldn't help the eager grin that spread across her face. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Then I shall do my best to change your mind."

She braced herself.

/~/

The following ten minutes were remarkably anticlimactic, given Aizawa-sensei's dramatic words. He had her perform a series of basic attacks- punches, roundhouse-kicks, elbow jabs, and right and left hooks, making basic corrections to her form for each before telling them to practice and build muscle memory in her own time.

Then came a quick synopsis of the structure of his fighting style, along with demonstrating a few basic maneuvers on her. A quick lesson on how to fall safely and roll with the momentum followed after, ending the series of short lessons.

"Now," said Aizawa-sensei. "We put it all together in combat. Here, you are faced with two choices." He lifted a finger. "One; we put you on the fast track and develop a swift, efficient way to take out enemies, just in time for the Sports Festival."

In the brief pause that followed, Kimi mulled it over. "And?"

"Two; we take it slow and develop a fleshed out fighting style for you. I can give you some pointers on where to start and check in every so often to make sure you're on the right track. However, it won't be anything usable for the Sports Festival, and you'll have to find some other means of winning fights."

"What if we figure something out quickly for the Festival and then take it slow afterwards?" asked Kimi.

Aizawa shook his head, his tangled black locks swishing back and forth. "Whatever you sloppily put together now will seep into the style you create. Although, that's not necessarily a bad thing, unless your natural style is directly contradictory to the quirks of the 'fast track'."

"...What are the quirks of the 'fast track'?"

He wore an expression of grim amusement as he said, "I teach you how the most efficient way within reason to neutralize an opponent, with arguably immoral tactics."

Keeping her face carefully neutral, Kimiko said, "I see."

"Do you?" replied Aizawa with a tilt of his head. His eyes rested on her with a precise calm. "Perhaps I should make a visual demonstration."

"I-"

He blurred out of existence, the sound of feet softly landing behind her before the wind left in his wake had even settled. A whoosh of adrenaline swept her, but it came a beat too late as a unrelenting force unbalanced her feet and a firm hand loped around her arm, twisting.

Out of sheer reflex, she jerked away. But her lurching forwards placed her shoulder in a prime position for Aizawa to exploit, and she was sent tumbling to the ground.

"Get up," said Aizawa-sensei.

Blinking dazedly, Kimi unsteadily clambered to her feet. "What..."

"Did you register that?"

"...No," she admitted. "You caught me off-guard."

"And that, Midoriya, is exactly the point," said Aizawa. "Also, I will retract my offer for extra help unless you can relay exactly what I just did. Right. Now."

There was a jolt of blind panic as Kimi frantically scrambled for something to say. "You moved swiftly before I finished my sentence," she started. "Ah..."

The smallest of smirks crossed Aizawa-sensei's face. "I'll give you thirty seconds."

"That gave you the element of surprise," she continued, pressing on. "Then...then you targeted my legs, aiming for my knees. I think I raised my arms to balance myself, and you grabbed one and twisted it to control my balance."

"And then what?" asked Aizawa. He gave a pointed glance at the clock.

Out of sheer desperation, Kimi blurted, "I don't know! My back was facing you; how do I know what you did?"

"Ten seconds," was her only reply.

Exploring a more colorful vocabulary in her head, Kimi felt herself stutter an incoherent protest, before schooling herself. "Okay, um, _oh!_ You predicted the way I'd try to pull back and threw your control against my momentum, further unbalancing me enough to knock me to the ground." She finished, breathing a little quickly from being put on the spot.

"A little vague, but adequate," Aizawa admitted. "Now, can you generalize the style of techniques that you will learn based off of this?"

Still reeling, Kimi shook her head.

"Surprise, speed, and control."

"Surprise, speed, and control," she recited. "Got it."

"Before we end off, I'll give you a quick maneuver to go over in your spare time," said Aizawa. "It's similar to the one you pulled on Shigaraki."

Kimi flinched, eliciting a raised eyebrow.

"Don't like being reminded of that?" he guessed. "Care to share why?"

Her mouth went dry as revulsion drove a shiver down her spine. This wasn't something she ever thought she'd have to put into words, and Kimi found herself a little lost at how to describe the feeling.

"I held a knife to his throat, and that feels wrong, like something a villain would do instead of a hero. And," she added quickly, "if you tell me I did the 'right thing' without explaining why, I'm going to hit something."

"If you do, at least use the correct form I showed you," Aizawa said wryly. "And as for what you did, the act itself isn't inherently evil or good. That is defined by the intent behind it. You did what you had to."

"So it was necessary," Kimi muttered. "That's what Todoroki told me. But it couldn't have been the only way; I refuse to believe that."

"No," Aizawa-sensei agreed, causing her to glance up sharply. "It wasn't. Perhaps a coordinated genius maneuver by your classmates would have been enough to neutralize the enemy into a position for bargaining. But you cannot act for other people, only yourself, and I'm telling you that you took the most practical approach to accomplish all your objectives."

"I...yeah. Thank you, sensei."

He didn't react. "You're dismissed, Midoriya. Practice your forms and the maneuver for next time."

"Yes sensei."

/~/

 _"...scouted. Golden opportunity..."_

 _"...determine your path in the future..."_

 _"...one chance a year, three chances a lifetime..."_

A little stunned, a gloomy atmosphere of dead silence hovered over the class of 1-A. Iida sat stiff-backed, Bakugo deathly still with twitching fingers, and Mina a little purple in the face. Kimi herself hadn't been ready for the onslaught of sheer _pressure_ the teachers would build. It had been Sports Festival this and Sports Festival that, until the basic formulas they were learning in math could apparently be applied to it.

 _"...the fledgling Symbol of Peace..."_

Kimi squeezed her eyes shut.

 _"You will take the competition by storm and say, 'I am here!"_

A hot tang hit her heart as her skin...her skin felt like it was splitting with the mounting strain from within. Her breath quickened, just a beat faster, and a warm tinge spread across her forehead. _I'm...I'm shaking..._

The sound of approaching footsteps in the dead quiet room had her eyes snapping open. All eyes were trained on Shoto Todoroki as he steadfastly made his way over to her, eyes shadowed and his posture that of a tracking hound.

Quietly but firmly, he said, "I'm going to take you down, Midoriya."

 _Breathe in, breathe out._ The knot in her chest loosened with each breath, and a casual smile spread across her face. "I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken, Todoroki-san."

Something in his eyes flinched, just a little twitch of the retreating light before it was enveloped by the darkness. Wordlessly, Todoroki glided back to his desk and pushed himself onto it, training his eyes towards the floor.

"Hey," snapped a rough voice. Bakugo's lips were curled back into a snarl as he glared at Todoroki. "You chose the wrong person to be your rival, you half-and-half bastard. That little shit's too weak to put up much of a fight."

Todoroki glanced up at him then away, dismissive. "Of course, the same goes for you and everyone else. I intend to win."

Bakugo gave a guttural growl. "I will rip you to pieces!"

Todoroki said nothing.

" _Hey!_ "

And then... the crashing waves of nerves within her calmed into a distilled pond of _knowing_. Knowing what she wanted. Knowing what she had to do. Kimi could see it now- see right through the clear pond and straight to the bottom, and she saw... she saw...

Something within her shifted, revealing a chasm of an ancient, primal _something._ It was magnificent, and the sheer incomprehensibility of it shot straight to her core.

Kimi reached out with her mind's eye, but her fingertips only barely brushed the surface before the angles all _shuffled_ and the chasm was no longer in sight.

And then the tense atmosphere was broken with Uraraka loudly declaring that she'd do her best and try as hard as she could. A little startled by her ferocity, the class hesitantly joined in with her cheering.

 _What...?_


	12. Game of Champions (I)

She was a lone island in a sea of surging humanity.

The race was on; quirks were exploding everywhere as people escaped Todoroki's ice, and gigantic robotic parts began scattering to the ground as debris.

Within her deadly stillness, One for All churned.

"C'mon Kimi!" Momo called over her shoulder.

She _moved_.

/~/

The race was on; Momo took off like a shot, her eyes already roving over the obstacles, assessing weak points and preparing to craft the perfect counter. Everyone was moving, scrambling frantically for the goal-

-except for Shoto Todoroki who swept effortlessly before them all with an unprecedented grace.

He had said that he was going to win. She had begged to differ.

But now…

 _No. I'm not going to lose_. She'd been chasing after their backs from the moment Todoroki had beat her in the class rankings. They demanded all the attention, had all the glorious fights. And Kimi during the USJ invasion…

It was supposed to be the three of them. A friendly three-way rivalry. But somewhere along the line, Kimi and Todoroki had snapped into orbit.

And Momo…

 _I'm not going to be left behind._

Despite everything, she cast a single glance back. Kimiko hadn't moved an inch; her face betrayed nothing but that ever-present quiet focus, and her eyes were those of a hunter stalking prey. She was an assassin lying in wait- as if this race could be won by waiting and analyzing- by lying in wait to see just how she should strike.

"C'mon Kimi!"

Kimiko was going to fight for it. Shoto Todoroki was going to fight for it. And Momo was going to tear this victory right out of their throats, because _she_ was going to win, damnit!

Momo kept running.

/~/

Kimi was flying through time and space, through eternity and nothingness towards the one undiluted goal she'd been clawing at since the USJ.

Kimi didn't know where the end of the race was. She didn't know how to get there or where she was going. But All Might had given her a mission and she _would_ see it accomplished.

She would get there first, and she would make an impact and declare it to the world. And the world was going to hear- she'd _make_ the world hear.

The colored lights of One for All guided her as she rode on the broken wings of sacrifice and desire. Blinding light crashed into the earth and her feet hit solid ground, the blazing energy rippling off her.

 _I am here!_

The crowd roared.

/~/

Still breathless with joy and adrenaline, Kimi turned to grin at Todoroki as he crossed the finish line.

He stopped and lifted his head, staring back at her darkly.

It jarred the fluttering ecstasy right out of her; Kimi paused, words of congratulations on the tip of her tongue. Roughly, she swallowed, and allowed her gaze to grow cold. That breathless joy began to fade.

 _I won,_ she thought fiercely. _And that's all that matters._

/~/

She had made it; Momo had made it.

Todoroki had beaten her to finish line, but that had become more inevitable to her as the race went on. But oh, she was going to come out better than _one_ of them at least- she hoped Kimi had fought for it, had put up a valiant fight. She hoped her win was dramatic, with Kimi clawing at her heels as she passed the finish line.

Momo turned around. Nobody was there.

Numbly, she crossed the threshold leading to the others who'd overtaken her, leading to the winners whom she'd now be a part of. Katsuki Bakugo greeted her with a silent glare as she passed.

The crowd was screaming around her, cheering wildly and frenzied. And in the eye of the hurricane was Kimi and Todoroki staring each other down, locked in their own little world.

 _No-!_

/~/

 _"TEN MILLION POINTS!"_

Kimi blinked. "Excuse me?"

Several pairs of hungry eyes gleamed around her.

 _Well damn._

Nobody would want to partner with the winner of the race, because _everyone_ would be targeting her. Ten _million_ damn points; this was _not_ how math worked. She had to find –or desperately scramble for- a team and _quick_ , before everyone was taken.

Instinctively, she turned in the direction she knew Todoroki was in. Even as more people finished the race and crowded the area, she'd always subconsciously had a pinpoint on his location. She knew it was the same for him, and they could both feel the subtle tension between them.

She arrived in time to see him extend a hand towards Momo. "Yaoyorozu," he said. A command.

Momo stared at that hand for a single, eternal moment. Her hesitation surprised Kimi, but more surprising was the conviction with which she turned away.

She declined him.

Todoroki blinked in equal surprise before resolutely heading off, turning his back to Kimi. She stumbled a step after him, her hand lifting.

No.

She didn't know what happened, and she didn't know what it was all about, but Kimi wasn't welcome anymore. He'd seen her and walked away deliberately- she could take a hint.

Kimi swiveled around, pushing away the hurt, but Momo was gone as well.

People kept moving around her but Kimi stood shock-still, suddenly feeling so…isolated. Alone. A little helplessly, she began listing her classmates. _Asui?_ She'd seen her with Mineta and Mezo. _Mina?_ With Bakugo. She wandered dazedly through the bustling crowd, suddenly spotting Momo. Her eyes lit up, but her hopes quickly crumbled upon seeing her with Jiro, Uraraka, and someone who was presumably Toru Hagakure.

Swiveling on her heel, her steps picked up speed as a bit of frantic desperation seeped in.

"Midoriya-san."

She froze, and locked eyes with Tokoyami. A little bit of that crushed hope sparked within her, and she held her breath.

Then Tokoyami nodded, and Kimi smiled. "Welcome to the team."

They sifted through and were declined by another few students, before a blur stopped her in his tracks. She heard a purr of " _Perfect_ , you're still alone…" and a mop of pink hair shoved itself in her face.

"Team up with me, person in first place!" The girl's face was split in a wide, hungry grin. Kimi took several quick steps back.

"Um…sure?"

The girl's eyes lit up like a flame, and she clasped her hands together. "Wonderful! This will be such a good opportunity to show off my babies-"

Kimi blinked. "Pardon?"

"Oh, yes." She whipped out a pile of metal contraptions and waved around fervently. A wide grin had split her face. "They'll be of much use to you, promise. I've prepared a jetpack which I'm sure you'll love 'cause I'm assuming you'll want to hide- and what better place to do so than in the sky?"

"Breathe," muttered Tokoyami.

"Anyways," she went on. "I'm Mei Hatsume! Who are you?"

"Kimiko Midoriya."

"Fumikage Tokoyami."

Mei flipped up her goggles to reveal startlingly intense eyes. "Great, nice to meet you all. So anyways, I'm going to use your unfortunate situation to my personal advantage!"

"Subtle," Kimi muttered.

"Oh yes, and I'll have the perfect chance to be in the spotlight with you. This'll ensure that my precious babies will be seen by all of the big-company CEOs that will surely be tuning into the battle! This is totally the _best way_ for me and my marvelous gadgets to get recruits!"

Mei stopped to take a breath and tilted her head. "So yeah, what's the game plan?"

"We-ell," Kimi said dryly with a raised eyebrow. "I'm glad you asked." Mei Hatsume continued to stare expectantly at her with that same strange intensity. "You're right that I'll need to be in the sky, but hiding isn't all we're going to be doing. You have anything that can turn a bit quicker, with more flexibility?"

Mei tilted her head. "I can make a few tweaks on the jetpack right now, but the acceleration and speed will suffer for it."

"No. The speed can go, but I'll need the acceleration."

"I can launch us into the sky with Dark Shadow," Tokoyami interrupted. "That's all the acceleration we'll need. Do what you need to do, Hatsume-san."

"On it!"

"Okay, that works. Tokoyami? You'll be playing defensive. Cover my back, and only switch to front if there's an emergency."

"Understood."

"Mei?"

Tools and wires were flying everywhere. She worked with an almost unholy speed.

"Hurry up."

Mei flashed a feral grin and her hands became little more than a blur.

/~/

"Three!"

Kimi fiddled with her jetpack, and Mei slipped on her hover boots.

"Two!"

Dark Shadow slid from Tokoyami, bellowing a war-cry.

"One!"

The others closed in, surrounding her team like wolves circling prey. Kimi gritted her teeth. _I'm not the same defenseless prey I once was. Never again._

"Move!" Her voice cracked like a whip, and Mei barked a delighted laugh. Her devices kicked into full gear and Dark Shadow slammed the ground, launching them into the sky.

"You aren't getting away, Midoriya!" Bakugo launched himself into the air like some feral beast, eyes wide and hair madly tousled. His arm was cocked back, crackling with energy.

Tokoyami barked, " _Dark Shadow_ _!_ " And the monstrous blast was met head on with a roiling surge of darkness.

" _Nice_ ," Kimi breathed.

But then Bakugo shot another explosion beneath him, keeping him in the air. Dark Shadow lashed out, but he twisted to avoid the blow.

"You two fuckers against me," he snarled. "Just like the good ol' days."

He struck out with a fist, but Dark Shadow met him blow for blow. Kimi called, "The hell are you talking about?"

"Pummel him," Tokoyami commanded.

Dark Shadow finally struck Bakugo across the chest, and he let himself fall, controlling his descent with miniature blasts. He seethed, glaring daggers.

Kimi pushed the button for another boost from the jetpack. Mei angled her body to propel them forwards with her hover boots. "What was _his_ problem?" she said.

"Dunno," said Kimi.

In their brief moment of respite, Tokoyami let Dark Shadow relax. "Bakugo-san was referring to our first hero-course assignment. The one where he was on the villain team and we were acting as the hero team."

"Oh, that," said Kimi. She had won by pretending to engage in a final, all-out attack with Bakugo before dropping her knife at the last minute, distracting him and allowing Tokoyami to take him down from the back. Yeah, it had been a bit of a dirty trick, but… "Didn't know he was still hung up about it."

From beneath her, Tokoyami's shoulders shifted in a shrug.

Mei, oblivious to what had just occurred, tossed her head back to give a whoop of joy before blasting her devices into full throttle. They hurtled sharply to the side, just as lightning arced across where they had once stood.

"Ten million points!" Kaminari crowed with Todoroki on his back. "Enjoy it while it lasts, Midoriya!"

Kimiko gritted her teeth and shot off, the crackle of thunder on her heels. Her jetpack sputtered, the fuel draining at an alarming rate. That, coupled with the feeling of the chase, of _being_ chased and hunted down, drew her resolutely to a single conclusion.

This wouldn't be won by running away.

Her eyes roved over the writhing masses below, surveying the chaos. She locked onto a weak point in the crowd; an opening. Their salvation.

"We attack," she commanded. "Strike swiftly and get out fast. We can lose Todoroki in the process."

"It's too risky," rumbled Tokoyami.

Kimi smiled grimly. "You know what they say: offense is the best defense." She angled her jetpack downwards. "Now follow my lead."

They shot towards a group of Class B students, their rider lifting their arms to defend. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toru's headband bob towards her. A grin slashed across Kimi's face as she jerked to the side; Tokoyami sensed her intent and threw Dark Shadow to a side, banking while shielding them from the Class B team.

The first to react, Momo cried out a warning and a kaleidoscope of color burst to life in her chest. _I won't give you a chance to use that_ , Kimi thought and barked out an order. Mei grinned wildly and thrust out an arm, something metal and shiny shooting from her sleeve and snatching the headband right off Toru's head.

Suddenly, Kimi noticed that their team had all lost their headbands, save for Uraraka's. _No. Don't hesitate. Don't falter._

Jiro muttered something to Uraraka, quickly and urgently. The other girl gave a determined nod and reached up to touch Toru, and the two began rising into the air. Jiro and Momo scattered from beneath them.

"They're going all-out offensive," said Tokoyami.

"We have to get out!" Kimi called. "Hatsume, full power!"

"You got it!"

Dark Shadow threw them into the air, and the thrum of the jetpack vibrated intensely against her back. Wind ripped the hair from her face as Kimi and her team launched into the sky, only for a spike of ice to shoot up before them.

Kimi clenched her jaw. _Damnit._

Frost glittering in his eyes, Todoroki rose to their level on his crystalline spire. Kaminari launched lightning at her, forcing them to swerve right into Todoroki's ice. Dark Shadow smashed through it and the shards rained down on the teams below.

"Toldya we were coming for you," snarked Kaminari. A path of ice unraveled towards them and lightning danced along it, skimming Mei. She cried out, and her hover boots flailed. Team Todoroki sped towards them with Iida at the helm.

Sudden clarity struck through Kimi's panic. A blanket of focus wrapped around her and she carefully isolated a fraction of her power, slowly but surely, and thrust it to her side. Energy surged through her -around her- demanding that the world keep them upright. A burst of power neutralized Mei's flailing, giving them just enough time to dodge Kaminari's next attack.

"They're not letting up," Tokoyami remarked. "We're getting overwhelmed."

"Then we push back."

Kimiko shut off her jetpack and they landed solidly on Todoroki's platform of ice. She shifted her weight entirely onto Tokoyami, allowing Mei to do a spinning kick, propelled by a sudden burst of her hover boots.

Kaminari was knocked off balance but the other two didn't slow. Unbalanced, their entire team flailed for a moment. Todoroki snarled in frustration, urging them to continue their momentum despite their stumble.

 _He's desperate._

The opposing team lurched forwards but Kimi's team danced around them. The fourth member of their team, Ojiro, covered their backs and lashed out with his tail.

And then, like the low rumble of thunder, Todoroki spoke: "Midoriya."

Her head spun round against her will. Her gaze locked with his.

He reached out, and flames danced along his fingertips.

/~/

He was burning from the inside out. The fire danced beneath his skin, and he ached- oh how he _ached._ Heat, power, rage- he was the flame. He held it all in, devoured the fire until it was devouring him. And… and _Midoriya_ -

Fire in his heart. Fire in his soul. He was burning; would there even be anything left after he burned? Would there be anything left of Shoto Todoroki- or would there be nothing left but ashes.

His mind and soul screamed, and the fire raced into his fingertips and burst forth into the world.

/~/

She saw the flame, and sheer instinct had her recoiling, retreating, but Tokoyami and Mei kept charging forwards but there was _fire_ just a breath away-

The headband ripped right off her head.

 _No!_ All fear fled her mind, driven out by pure rage and desperation. Cold power raced through her veins and she threw out an arm. As if nature itself had bowed to her command, a sharp, ripping wind crashed into Todoroki's team and they stopped, fumbling.

Kimi's team charged past.

Dark Shadow held a headband in his beak.

 _Pass._

/~/

Present Mic revealed the top four teams one by one, Todoroki's obviously placing first. Having snagged his original headband, Kimi's team managed to make it into fourth place.

Satisfaction gleamed in Tokoyami's eyes. Mei cheered.

Suddenly remembering the team she'd singled out for their weakness, Kimi felt a pang of worry. She spun in a small circle, before hurrying over to Momo. "Hey," she said. "Sorry about that. You guys make it?"

Her friend's face had gone curiously blank, before a smile slowly blossomed across her face. It looked strangely strained.

"Yeah," said Momo. "We picked off some Class B guys."

Relieved, Kimi loosed a breath. "Oh, good."

"Don't worry about it. Competition's competition, am I right?"

The two shared a laugh with Momo's sounding a little forced, but Kimi quickly dismissed it as nerves.

Settling for small talk, Kimi struck up a conversation about their classmates. Momo slowly relaxed as they speculated on Tokoyami's Dark Shadow.

"He doesn't _feel_ solid," the other girl said. "But it certainly feels solid when it hits you in the face. Reminds me kind of water- the way it solidifies as you slam into it."

"I dunno," replied Kimi. "It seems more like pure energy. If it were liquid, it wouldn't be able to hold its shape. The real question is whether or not it's its own sentient being."

Momo was about to answer before Present Mic announced the third stage: a straight-up arena battle. The matches were determined based on the points, and Kimi pitied whoever was facing Todoroki and Bakugo, the first and second place winners respectively.

She expressed as much to Momo.

Her face twisted. "Mr. First Place," she muttered, before sighing. "Obviously." When she looked up, her gaze was hard with determination. "But not for much longer."

Well, Kimi disagreed with who her friend thought would replace him (it certainly wasn't going to be Momo) but quietly, she agreed with her words.

She was going for the kill, and the others would just have to settle for second. Glancing over, she saw Todoroki staring at his hands as if they'd betrayed him. She turned away.

All Might's command rang through her mind, her soul:

 _I am here._

 _I am here._

 _I am here._

Kimi opened her eyes and smiled at Momo. "Well, I'll introduce you to your opponent. Momo, this is Mei Hatsume."

She left her friend to that… that force of nature and went to find Hitoshi Shinso.


	13. Game of Champions (II)

"Good luck," said Shinso.

"You too," said Kimi.

And then it all went downhill from there.

/~/

He tried to watch the match. Really, he did.

"What's she doing?!" cried Uraraka. "Why's she listening to him?"

It was Kimiko Midoriya against Hitoshi Shinso, and truth be told, it hadn't seemed like much of a match. The purple-haired boy wasn't exactly frail looking, but he was lanky, and the dark circles under his eyes didn't exactly give him a glow of power. And while it was never outwardly spoken, the General Studies class had a reputation for excelling more at theory then practical combat.

"God," said Ojiro. "I should've told her."

"Told her _what?_ "

"His quirk brainwashes you; I think it activates if you respond to him."

"Well that seemed like an important thing to mention!" Uraraka said, almost in hysterics-

-for Midoriya was just a couple feet away from the arena boundary.

"Not now," Yaoyorozu muttered to herself. "Not before I can face you. This can't be how it ends, Kimiko."

The entire world held its breath, but Shoto was too busy burning.

/~/

A soft buzz had taken over her world. Perhaps it was the stillness within her, or perhaps it was the stillness of the crowd, but…

It was nice, the quiet.

She never used to like the quiet before.

Her steps sounded softly against the ground, but they echoed in her ears. That line approaching- that was the boundary, wasn't it? It drew closer, closer, closer.

Stop.

Her feet kept moving.

 _Stop_.

It was just a breath away. Time slowed to a crawl.

Her quirk was dependent on wishing, but this peace that had overcome her made it difficult to draw out any real desire. She had never really realized how tired she was. From the moment she could crawl, she crawled with _purpose_. Ambition and want had laced every bit of her being- the want to be a hero.

Learning that she was quirkless had not been a reprieve. It did nothing to dissipate her ferociously burning dreams, merely removing the means that would see them accomplished. And all that energy, all that _want_ ; it had nowhere to go. Her very own fiery desire had turned against her, burning the hand that fed the flames.

A bastard quirk was born.

The want to be a hero, to fight villains, to make a difference- once they had been harmless wishes, but now… now they were backed up by power. She had wished, and the universe had granted her wish.

The villain hideout.

 _A gun, a knife, and guts on the floor._ For the first time, that crazed, long-buried mantra made her smile. It wasn't a pleasant one.

The grimness began to seep back in; she hadn't realized how ingrained in her the feeling was until it had disappeared. It shifted the gears within her, realigned her vision. She was getting somewhere; maybe she was ready to want again, to go back to that furious, unrelenting chase for purpose.

 _Not. Yet._

Another two steps were taken, and she could feel Shinso's gaze burning into her back. She could feel him smile.

She was still oh-so-very tired.

Wait. There was another option. That power she'd felt while training for the Sports Festival. It had been a still pool of crystal-clarity underneath the raging currents of desire, but it had slipped right through her fingers in the next moment. She could find it, and she'd use it instead, and she could keep this peace.

Her feet took another step.

The power was nowhere to be found.

One for All began crooning within her veins, reminding her of the promises and sacrifices made. _I know. I_ know _, damnit!_ That time… that one time she'd collapsed exhausted on the beach, having pumped her body with One for All as much as she could just to see how far she could go- how much she could take.

It hadn't been enough.

 _Sacrifices were made._

And unease began to stir within her; she'd won her inner war, but what had it all been for?

Slowly, her hands curled around the hilt of a knife.

Slowly, her fingers slid against the blade. Slowly, a small bead of ruby blood squeezed through the cut.

And slowly, Kimi smiled.

She stopped. Turned. Met Shinso's indigo eyes.

Kimiko Midoriya walked away from the edge. Her feet still sounded softly, but no longer did they echo in her ears. Purpose and want raged through her tired, tired body once more, and the blade fell unnoticed from her hands into nothingness.

Panic flared in Shinso's eyes, but his tone was calm. "Did you like my little trick?"

"It was a very nice trick," Kimi agreed casually.

A note of excitement entered his voice. "Walk out of the arena," he ordered quickly.

"I'd really rather not," she returned.

She continued to smile. She continued to walk towards him.

"No," he breathed. "How are you doing that? Turn around- turn around _now!_ "

"No thank you."

" _Stop it!_ " he snapped, emotion breaking through the calm. "Stop mocking me! I've been behind from the start, thanks to my quirk. You, you who've been blessed with a quirk… you couldn't possibly understand…"

 _Blessed?_ Kimi kept moving forward; unceasing, unrelenting. Shinso began stumbling back. _I never thought of it that way._

"A villain's quirk," he said lowly. "Not quite what the hero course is looking for, is it?" He laughed a bitter laugh. "I guess I should be thankful to be in U.A. at all, shouldn't I?"

She said nothing.

" _Shouldn't I?!_ "

Kimi smiled sadly.

That rage within him was painfully familiar; that fury at the world which had unfairly damned him. Damned if you do, damned if you don't; but he'd damn himself if he didn't at least _try_. _I get it. Really, I do._

Trying takes everything; anything and everything, until there's nothing left to give.

Kimiko flashed forwards, landing soundlessly before him, and jammed the pressure point on his neck.

Shinso crumpled to the ground.

/~/

Mina and Kirishima cheered in unison, and Uraraka sagged in relief. And Momo… she felt happy for her friend, of course, but the dominant emotion in her mind was nothing more than a grim determination.

Of course Kimiko wouldn't take anything less than a decisive victory- and neither would she. And their paths would cross at some point, and they would fight.

Even though Momo logically knew that she should be focusing on the fight ahead, her heart had her strategizing against Kimiko Midoriya instead. Her fighting style was hard to pinpoint- it had fluctuated wildly throughout the year, going from desperate and dangerously wild to something equally vicious but edged with cold precision.

But more confusing was her quirk; no one really knew what it was, or how exactly it worked. The rumor mill had speculated that it was creation, similar to Momo's own, but there wasn't really a source for where her creations came from. Momo's had scientific backing. Hers just… appeared out of nowhere.

And then what about the teleporting? That seemed like a really crucial thing to mention. It was just all a mess, making it hard to strategize around it.

Mei Hatsume, the pink monstrosity, leapt into the arena.

 _One thing at a time,_ Momo told herself. _First I'll take down Hatsume, and then the other two._

With that in mind, she followed her opponent into the arena. Then other girl had the _audacity_ to offer Momo one of her gadgets.

There had to be a trick; it was the only logical reason for the offer. "No thanks," Momo replied curtly.

Hatsume pouted. "You sure?"

And now the girl wasn't even trying to be subtle anymore. " _Yes_ I'm sure," she snapped.

"Suit yourself."

The match began. Gripping her metal staff, Momo charged forward.

/~/

And Mei Hatsume sauntered out of bounds.

/~/

Kimi grimaced. That was quite a terrible way to win a fight, not to mention extraordinarily humiliating. As Momo trudged up the stairs, expression conflicted, she offered a sympathetic smile.

Momo made a small, high noise.

"Ah… in any case, it's Kaminari's turn. I'm sure this will be entertaining."

"Was mine not entertainment enough?" Momo said, a little bitterly.

Kimiko blinked, "Momo-"

She shook her head, exhaling. "Sorry, I'm just a little upset."

"Understandably so," she assured her friend, before a playful smile flickered across her face. "But I stand by what I said: Kaminari's match is gonna be fun."

Momo gave a small smile. "That is… a probable assumption."

"Oh look, he's shocked himself stupid again."

"Obviously."

/~/

It had gotten to the point where Shoto couldn't even walk up the stairs without his personal demons assaulting him.

He tried to brush past Endeavor without a word, but fate was never going to let that happen.

"Shoto," said his father. "I'm glad that you've finally come to your senses."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play the fool with me, boy; I was watching the cavalry battle." Endeavor loomed over him, a satisfied glint in his eye. "It is about time that you ceased your foolish rebellion."

The cavalry battle. And like a relentless pest, the memory of the battle brought with it the thought of Midoriya. The thought of her made his stomach twist, made the oppressive flames rise up in the back of his throat, choking off any protest before they could reach his tongue. His fingers twitched, nails digging into his palms.

"Now you can reach your full potential. I can make you great, Shoto. Remember the sole purpose with which you were placed on this earth. You must grow strong so that one day, you may eclipse All Might and watch as he stands in your shadow."

Shoto closed his eyes; frustration, hate, pain – they screamed in agony as his emotions were lit aflame. There was only ever one option; put out the fire.

Except it had taken root in him and roared stronger than ever. Shoto Todoroki was burning; he didn't dare speak, for fear of exactly what hateful words would slip out of his mouth.

But his father was watching, so he swallowed his bile and said, "I'm the last match of the first round. I better get going."

"Set the world on fire, son."

 _Except I'd be the one to burn._

/~/

 _"An outstanding effortless victory by Shoto Todoroki! But you can't expect anything less from the son of the world's second-best hero, Endeavor!"_

Kimiko would face him soon enough, whether it be in her next match or the matches afterwards. She'd face him, and she'd take him down this time. She wouldn't lose – not again.

 _A tranquilizer gun blinked into existence, curled within her fingers. Kimiko wished again, thinking about broken dreams and collapsing empires, and the ice pillar before her came crashing down_ –

 _She flashed behind him, dangerously close. The gun in her hand jerked upwards, almost of its own volition, but it was Kimiko and Kimiko alone that pressed the trigger-_

 _Todoroki snarled, a blast of ice crashing into her, and Kimiko fell._

 _She_ fell _._

The taste of that defeat had long-since stopped being bitter on her tongue, but that didn't mean she wanted this win any less. She was never going to fall again.

"Ugh, I have to face _him_?"

Uraraka's dismayed cry snapped Kimi out of her musings. "The results are up," she realized.

"Yeah, and I'm against Bakugo!"

Silently wishing her luck, Kimi scanned the list, searching for her name. _There! And I'm facing…_

Momo Yaoyorozu.

That was… disheartening. It certainly threw a wrench in her plans to brutally take down whatever foe she faced right as the match started. But still… she'd find another way. She _had_ to.

More importantly, if she won, she faced Todoroki next.

/~/

Kimiko Midoriya.

Yes. _Finally_. This was the moment Momo had been waiting for– it was _exactly_ what she'd wanted. It was Kimiko first and Todoroki second and she was going to take it all. Her damned "match" with Hatsume was disastrous. Humiliating. Her strange contraptions had taken her by surprise, and she'd been used – _used!_ – to advertise the girl's stupid products.

People like Todoroki and Bakugo got all the attention with the raw, flashy power of their quirks. Or you could be Kimiko Midoriya, with a sort of cold mystery surrounding her unknown power. But it took more than that to be a hero.

Gritting her teeth, Momo forced herself to relax and began to analyze and plan. She'd prepared well for the Sports Festival. Too well, maybe.

Too many sleepless nights. A fever. Waking up in a cold sweat.

Training. Bruising. Bleeding.

Thinking. Analyzing. Writing.

Momo was an elastic band pulled taut. The plan had been to snap back with five times the force, but it was all she could do to not snap entirely.

 _You're going down, Kimi._

/~/

"And once again, Shoto Todoroki takes an effortless win! Now for our next competitors, Kimiko Midoriya and Momo Yaoyorozu, both from U.A. Academy!"

It was time.

Kimiko breathed. In, out. In, out. _Get yourself together!_ A painless defeat wasn't an option for Momo; even considering it would be disrespecting her friend. Neither of them would be going down without a serious fight, and Kimi was under no delusions that this would be easy.

Momo was scarily smart and ridiculously precise. She was a quick analyzer and a speedy adapter. But…

Calm. Careful. The world was watching.

 _The world is watching, so give them a show!_

She met Momo's eyes from across the battlefield. Was this where she offered her a smile? Where she wished her luck? Where she said something witty about how she was going to win?

 _No. It's where I take her down._

The call to begin sounded faintly in her ears, distant and far off.

Neither of them moved.

 _She's gonna create her staff; there's always an opening when she does that. Focus on where you want to teleport to. Wait for the moment the staff materializes._

Momo's stomach began to glow with a soft light, her skin shimmering as a glint of metal peaked through. Her hand went to retrieve her weapon, and Kimi burst into motion. The world blurred as she flashed behind her opponent, a fist cocked back.

The breath was crushed from her body as a long metal pole slammed into her gut.

Kimiko wheezed. _She changed the place the staff was going to materialize and made it shoot from her back. The girl's too damn talented._

By the time Momo had grabbed her weapon, Kimi was long gone, dancing lightly on her toes.

She disappeared again, and Momo turned around on instinct. _As if I were stupid enough to try the same trick twice._ With her Quirk-enhanced speed, she ravenously devoured the distance between them and rammed Momo head on, locking her arm around her neck and snaking her foot around her leg. With a sharp twist, Kimi brought them both crashing down.

Kimi had her pinned in a flash, her arm crushing the other girl's airways. Since training for One for All, her raw strength had increased tremendously. It was just a matter of time before Momo passed out.

But then Momo suddenly stopped thrashing and went limp, and there was a split second where Kimi's hand holding her down relaxed. _Damn_. She tightened her grip but was too late; needles spawned from the miniscule space left between Momo's arm and her palm, and she yanked her hand back.

With Kimi's balance off, Momo managed to throw their bodies into a roll and jerk her way out of the hold.

 _She's going back for her staff!_

That was unacceptable; her entire victory centered around being able to get in close, and Momo's skill with the weapon would make that near impossible. Kimi gritted her teeth. _I want it gone! I need it to disappear!_

But the staff remained, taunting her with its existence. _It's made of material from her own body_ , Kimi realized. _And that makes it harder to control._

In her moment of inaction, Momo was able to scramble over and retrieve her weapon.

 _What do I do? What should I want?_

With swift dexterity, Momo gave her massive staff a twirl and smiled. Kimiko gritted her teeth.

 _She wants me to attach. I don't know what she's planning but_ –

With a wisp of desire, Kimi blazed forward and ducked the first swipe of the staff. But Momo pulled it back with a startling speed and rammed it into her gut. Kimi collected herself and rolled away from another swipe, before catching an opening.

Kimi willed power to her fist and sent it ramming forwards, but then her eyes widened as the staff was there in the split-second before impact.

Her fist screamed in pain as they hit solid metal. She couldn't help the yelp as her knuckles were split open, the blood trickling its warmth down her hand. _When did you get so good with it?_

"Not so tough now, are you?" Momo teased, but there was a vicious bite to her words. Kimi glanced up in surprise, only to find her opponent readying another jab.

With a frantic wish, Kimi managed to summon a shield in midair and ducked to a side as the blow knocked it across the battlefield. Then her opponent gave a cry of triumph as she thrusted something into the air before throwing it to the ground.

 _What-_

There was an explosion of smoke and debris that sent Kimi stumbling backwards. _I need to see._ A gust of wind cleared away the settling dust to reveal a beam of silver metal rocketing towards her. A panicked thought sent the world spinning as she flashed away, narrowly avoiding the collision. _One hit from that to the head, and I'll be out like a light._

"Bakugo hits harder, you know!" Kimi sang, inwardly wishing for something to stop her in her tracks.

The ground underneath Momo turned to sludge. _Now's my chance!_

Kimi wished frantically for a pair of brass knuckles but winced at the thought of them impacting her friend. _No! Don't think of that. How 'bout a sword- wait, no, that's worse. A tranquilizer. Yeah, that'll work._

Her hand remained empty.

It was that damn treacherous part of her again, flinching at the thought of hurting her friend. It was a small hesitation, but enough to disrupt the wishing process.

 _This is ridiculous. I don't have much time left- I have to do_ something!

She flashed away again and channeled her frustration into a blazing flame, drawing a line of fire before her. Momo pried herself from the mud and dragged something long and rod-like from her chest, discarding her staff.

A mace and chain. She did _not_ want to get hit by that.

"Running away, Kimi?" called Momo. "You know a little fire isn't gonna stop me."

"Nah. _I_ actually know the value of taking my time."

Which was a lie. Kimi was getting dangerously close to the end of her standard reserves, and she couldn't put herself out of commission with One for All just yet. It was in her favor to end this as quickly as possible.

"Don't get all smug on me, Kimi," said Momo, advancing slowly. "I've been training harder than you could imagine– you'll have to settle for being out of the spotlight this time!"

"The hell are you talking about?" With a wave of her arm, Kimi condensed her fire into a concentrated ball of burning gas then blew it up into an explosion of light. It blinded the both of it, but Kimi had been expecting it and moved before Momo managed to recover.

"We've all been training," she hissed out, landing a blow to her friend's head. Momo staggered but remained upright. _That should've taken her out, even if just for a few moments. Damn, I'm still holding back._

And in that moment of frustration, she missed the fact that Momo had created a knife.

/~/

 _"We've all been training."_

And then her head was on fire.

 _No!_ Momo screamed mentally. _You can't fall_ – _not here!_ The darkness called to her, tantalizing, but she clung desperately to consciousness. Her legs were jelly and her vision swirled, making any sort of defense impossible.

 _It can't end here. I refuse to accept that- I_ refuse!

Her breath coming in rapid spurts, Momo loosed a strangled cry and staggered sharply forward, drawing something out of her chest. Her own eyes barely registered the flash of sharp steel before she plunged on forward, sinking it into her friend's gut.

She'd stayed up so many hours, so many sleepless nights, just _thinking_. Thinking and remembering the way Kimi –and Todoroki– fought. Relived the sight of her and that knife so many times that of course, of _course_ in her moment of panic, that very same blade was what her body instinctively created.

Momo wrenched it out and cast it a glance. Her mind had been able to approximate its chemical composition and molecular structure, even in the heat of battle. She'd done oh-so many exercises to develop that ability. She'd worked hard– harder than anyone else and _oh god_ –

Realization dawned She'd _stabbed_ her. The feverish frenzy drained from her at once. "Shit, Kimi are you…" No. She'd be fine. What was important was that Momo had an opening, a chance to turn the tides. She switched to a reverse grip, aiming with the hilt of the knife, and drew her arm back for a mighty swing.

Kimi was still dazed, reeling from her wound.

 _Yes._

And she swung.

/~/

All Might.

That was what finally cemented the sense of purpose within her.

He'd put his trust and faith in her, and she was honor-bound to live up to those expectations. She'd known that; it had been a constant weight on her from the moment she'd inherited this quirk.

A red haze had taken over her world, slowing time in that fraction of a second. The heat of the pain was an afterthought in her mind. She felt… light. Empty, almost. Was it her sacrifice? It was never supposed to get this bad. What happened?

It was the fact that Momo was her friend. She'd really hesitated a lot during this match, hadn't she? But that was probably a good sign, the fact that the innermost parts of her still cared.

They'd discovered something, she and Aizawa, whilst training for the Sports Festival.

About her quirk.

About what it did to her mind. About what it truly cost.

It really was a good thing, her hesitation, so it truly was a shame that... _All good things must come to an end._

/~/

Momo swung, but an invisible force knocked the knife from her hands. Her furiously racing heart skipped a beat and she froze like a deer caught in headlights.

Eyes glazed over in pain, Kimiko pressed two fingers to the bleeding wound in her stomach and let out a long hiss. With a slight sizzle, the gash began to close. She straightened and removed her hand, and to Momo's eternal disbelief, her skin was nearly completely healed.

With a hardened look in her eye, Kimiko swept her hand in an arc.

She felt the heat before she saw it.

Jumping and scrambling backwards, Momo barely managed to avoid the wall of flame that burst to life between them. Without missing a beat, she backtracked further to retrieve her staff, gripping it tightly like a lifeline.

Kimiko began a slow walk forward, striding casually through the flames.

 _She's not in a fighting stance. This is still salvageable – take her down_ now!

Momo dashed forward and thrusted with her staff, but a flick of Kimi's wrist sent a rock crashing into it from out of nowhere, changing its trajectory. Momo missed and pulled away. Quickly abandoning her attack, Momo extracted another bomb and threw it to the ground.

Except a fierce wind came crashing through, sweeping away the dust meant to cover her escape.

Kimiko, on the other hand, was gone.

There was a hand on her shoulder.

Then the world was spinning and blurring and careening onto its side, and the ground reappeared under her feet only for an invisible force to blast her backwards into a wall. The impact knocked the breath from her body and she fell to the floor, staring at the white line of the arena border that lay before her.

"Momo Yaoyorozu is out of bounds!" cried Present Mic. Momo and glanced up sharply, a cold horror settling in. "And that means Kimiko Midoriya will be advancing to the semifinals!"

 _No… no! How… how could this have happened. I don't… I don't understand…_

"Hey."

She looked up. Kimi stood over her with her hand extended.

"Good match Momo. Sorry I was a little rough."

"It's fine," she said. "I did stab you after all."

Kimi laughed lightly, and Momo grudgingly accepted her hand, saying, "So, it'll be you and Todoroki again, hm?"

A nod. "Yeah."

 _"We've all been training."_

Momo lowered her eyes. It was true, wasn't it. Besides, there was no point complaining. There was no point thinking of how much you _deserved_ to win because of your hard work.

Kimi was going to be the one facing Todoroki because Momo hadn't been good enough.

She'd have to work harder, work _smarter_. Be better and stronger, and maybe one day… maybe she'd finally be good enough again.

/~/

 **A/N.** So yeah, I took Momo's character in a different direction. I feel it's only natural for someone as intelligent and competitive as her to have the other two members in your friend group always be in the spotlight.

Up next is Kimi and Todoroki, and there'll finally be some insight on the developments with Kimi's quirk.

Reviews are love 3


	14. Game of Champions (III)

**A/N.** Yeah, its been a while since the last update. As a refresher: it's the semifinals in the Sports Festival and Kimi's against Todoroki after a battle with Momo Yaoyorozu. Enjoy :)

/~/

Leaning back in the chair, Kimiko waited for her match with Todoroki to start.

She was still a little breathless. A little dazed from that… that _power_.

The energy she'd felt when fighting Momo had been absolutely stunning. She'd just barely brushed against that clear, still pool of power within her and was already aching for more. Her mind kept drifting to the sheer euphoria of the moment, the utter feeling of dominance as reality itself bent to your whims. Better yet, she wasn't suffering the drawbacks that usually occurred after One for All.

Todoroki was not going to be an easy opponent to beat. With more raw power than she would have in her lifetime, and a sharp mind to back it up, she wouldn't be able to beat him with any conventional means. And if he did what he'd done to Sero, enveloping the entire battlefield in ice, she…

What would she do?

He'd trapped her in the ice once, and it was only with the sheer power of One for All that she'd managed to break free. But that wasn't a sustainable option here, if she wanted to keep fighting. Her window of time after unleashing One for All was painfully small, and Todoroki wouldn't even be winded,

If he did that, she was done.

Unless she could figure something out _fast_ …

/~/

"I thought I told you to use your fire, Shoto."

Shoto didn't even spare his father a glance. "I didn't need it."

"It is not a question of _need_ ," said Endeavor. "It is a statement to the world. You must first claim your heritage before you can finally grow."

"I," snarled Shoto, "will do no such thing."

He stalked away.

/~/

"Man," said Mina. "Uraraka's match with Bakugo was _brutal_."

Asui bit her lip in worry. "I hope she's okay…"

"She was great- I'm sure she'll be fine." Mina glanced at the picture of the matchups saved on her phone. "Hey look: Midoriya's up next against… oh god."

"Who is it?"

"She's against Todoroki." She sighed. "And she was doing so well too… how unlucky."

A small, concerned _ribbit_ escaped from Asui. "Well, I hope she doesn't get seriously injured… but Todoroki doesn't hurt his opponents too bad."

"Oh yeah, remember Sero?"

"Poor guy..."

"Didn't even get a chance to shine," Mina said sympathetically, before Present Mic's voice boomed through the stadium. "Oh hey, the match is starting! This'll be good…"

/~/

God, she wasn't ready.

Present Mic had called them out, but her trembling legs refused to move. She hadn't felt this way before any of her other matches, but that was because she hadn't thought… she hadn't thought that she would-

 _All Might told me taught me helped me trusted me-_

Kimi closed her eyes, the darkness only drawing the fear in closer, allowing the sensation to envelop her in a lover's embrace. Walk. She had to walk.

Shoto Todoroki was insanely strong, that much was true. But she still had to win. She _had_ to. With the entire world watching… with _All Might_ watching… Failure was not an option. She'd do whatever it took, whatever was demanded of her. She'd made her sacrifice; what was a little more?

Her hand grasped the cool metal of the doorknob and twisted. Kimiko walked out the door and into the light.

/~/

Shoto refused to burn for his father.

And that was final.

/~/

They'd barely interacted with each other since their talk on their beach. Sure, they'd exchanged brief words, but the topic of All Might always loomed over their heads, straining their relationship.

Shoto Todoroki didn't really _see_ , or at least that was what she'd thought when first meeting him. His eyes were open, but he didn't really see what or who was in front of him. Those eyes were always intently pinned to some invisible goal that only he could see.

Kimi had only become visible in his field of vision because she'd met his mother.

That twisted family of his that she didn't really understand was what had brought them together, so it was only poetic justice that it would tear them apart.

"-and Kimiko Midoriya! They'll be competing to see exactly _who_ will advance to the final round!"

 _But_ , she admitted quietly to herself, _I do miss the way it used to be._

"Begin!"

The sweeping frost was as fiercely powerful as ever, and Kimiko barely managed to teleport away. She took several running steps and flashed to the side, avoiding the second blast. Her eyes met Todoroki's before the ice swept around him, blocking him from view.

 _He's fully encased, but that means he can't see me either – oh shit._ With a loud crackle, Todoroki shot up into the sky, the beautifully twisting ice bringing him higher and higher. He stared down at her from the sun, and Kimi had to shield her eyes from the brightness of it.

There was more crackling, and Kimi glanced at the floor. The frost swept across the stadium at a hungry speed, and she jumped, tucking her legs close to her chest. But the moment she landed, the ice reared up to grab at her ankles.

Kimi flashed away again, but she couldn't keep that up for long; her power would have long run dry before Todoroki even got close to being tired. _One misstep and its all over_.

She would lose if she stayed on the ground, but Todoroki was oh-so-very high up. She didn't _want_ to be there, but-

 _"Control your emotions,"_ Aizawa's voice snapped in her head.

Need. She _needed_ to be there, so that's what she would want. The world around her blinked out and back into existence, revealing the dizzying height of Todoroki's pillar of ice. She desired friction at her feet and lunged, intending to sweep him off the tower.

"Try again," he breathed, throwing himself backwards off the ice into the world below.

Almost instinctively, Kimi leapt after him, soaring into free-fall with the wind ripping her heart from her chest. Todoroki twisted in midair, a platform of ice rising to break his fall. It was all-too easy for Kimi to wish herself there. Her eyes opened to Todoroki's unreadable face, and she threw a punch that hit nothing but the crystal frost.

A jagged line of ice shot forwards to spear her and Kimi leapt up, balancing precariously on a spike with a feline grace. She threw Todoroki a half-smile and teleported behind him, grabbing him before he could react.

Her fist swung towards his head, but a spear of ice shot between them, drawing a line of blood from Kimi's arm.

Todoroki leapt away again, and Kimi plowed after him, twisting and twirling and flashing around. The world became a blur as they danced through the air, clashing beneath the sun. The strange foreigness between them melted away as they fell into step; the ice was the song and the sky their domain. The world below faded away _–_ it was just the sky and the ice and the wind through her hair.

A blade of ice swerved around them and Todoroki leapt onto it, riding it like a wave. Kimi jumped again, the free-fall more exhilarating than fearful. She landed before him on the narrow ridge, pushing him off.

Todoroki threw out an arm and the ice carried him backwards and away. A feral smile had split his lips, his eyes alight with the taunt: _catch me if you can_.

Kimi laughed, and the world danced with light.

The sunlight reflected off the ice's surface, its incandescence blurring as they wove around each other in this kingdom of frost and glory. The stadium had become a palace of sleet, allowing Todoroki to strike from nearly all directions. But Kimi wasn't going to be caught that easily; she darted through the air, disappearing and reappearing and weaving back and forth, light and free as the wind.

"You've gotten better," he said softly, but Kimi heard it.

"You have too."

"It's been fun, Midoriya," he breathed. "But I'm afraid I'll have to end it now.

Todoroki spread his arms; a colossal sheet of ice rose before its king, shining beneath the sun. It crackled and creaked, surging to its full height and spanned nearly the entirety of the stadium. Todoroki stood from above, watching from his throne of ice as it rushed Kimi in a massive magnificent wave.

She laughed again, flashing to a previous platform and calling, " _Nice_ one!" That overwhelming power of his was a beautiful beast, but to control something on this scale took time and concentration. The ice dragged through the walls of the arena, roaring and devouring everything in sight.

Once, Kimi would've found the situation hopeless.

Now, it was _thrilling_.

She threw out a hand and summoned a long pike, holding it like a jousting stick as she rushed the ice. It reared up to swallow her whole, but she jammed the pike into its surface and vaulted over it and into the brilliant blue sky.

She landed behind Todoroki, summoning friction to her feet to keep from sliding, and surged forwards. He couldn't use his power; all concentration was on his ice, and his guard was down, and everything was just right as the song to their dance played its final, crashing chord.

Their eyes met.

Todoroki set the world on fire.

/~/

He didn't want it to stop.

The exhilaration, the delight, their lethal dance through the sky. She was always exactly where he needed her to be to match him step for step, except _–_

He'd been the one to falter.

He saw her coming, felt her appear behind him in a burst of cascading light while he was still locked in controlling the wave of ice. The doom was inevitable; the moment he _felt_ her, the darkness had reared up to swallow him whole.

Despair.

Despair, for only one of them was allowed to stumble, and it wasn't supposed to have been him.

There was nothing in his mind, his heart except the overwhelming need to _continue_. To fall back into step and quicken the beat and feel the adrenaline race through his heart. Fire came roaring up to fill the emptiness, the pressure building beneath the skin, and he threw his head back and let the wildfire _roar_.

The ice, the stadium, the _world_ went up in flames.

He turned, but Kimiko Midoriya was gone. Flickers of her form flitted here, there, everywhere- faster than the eye could see. But he kept his eyes trained on the single spot he knew she'd be _–_ the only spot he left untouched _–_ and extended a hand.

Oh so very softly, he said to that empty space, "May I have this dance?"

/~/

Kimiko felt small, trapped in his sea of overwhelming power. There was nothing to do, nowhere to go. No possible way out.

Shoto Todoroki was stronger than humanly possible. In the end, his vast expanse of power was too much. The flames were everywhere, wicked tongues of fire lashing at her from every angle. It brushed against her face, the heat searing her cheek.

The heat _–_ the crushing, oppressive heat. The tiny platform of ice beneath her was rapidly melting, and she would tumble down into the hungry flames below. Kimi quickly glanced around for a way out, before the words of forfeit on her tongue slipped out.

The ice sparkled around her, the fire making it glow with flickering golden light. It was a beautiful place to lose. A gorgeously tragic end to the tale they wove. The world was quiet, the skies were lit aflame, and it really was a nice place to fall.

Then Shoto Todoroki extended his hand and asked her to dance.

Kimiko's eyes sharpened, her back straightening. Because… because who was she to refuse? If Todoroki wanted to play with fire, then _hell_ , she'd let herself burn.

One for All came alive in her veins, roaring, pounding, demanding. The ice beneath her slipped away into water and she twisted, landing somewhere else with the fire lashing pain at her ankles. She slipped away again into the folds of space and time, reappearing to spin in midair and launch a kick at Todoroki.

Ice snapped her leg away, sending her sprawling through the air, but she was gone again, riding the breath of the wind. The heat, the heat, the heat had to go. She wished, and clouds above released their rain. Though they were immediately devoured by the flames, going up in steam with a forlorn sigh, the world around them cooled.

She landed on a small bridge of ice then slipped off, but she teleported back up and caught her balance. A wish for a wind ripped through the steam, revealing Todoroki with his left side burning with the fire of a thousand suns.

One for All sang a mighty battle cry within her and she gave in. Gave herself to the song, let it consume her, gave it _everything_. Kimi ran on the melting platforms of ice, riding the gale and tearing through the fire. She let herself burn, let it sear, and launched herself at Todoroki to finish this once and for all.

She ran with the power of the gods and a thousand ancient spirits at her back. The fire burned, but she'd rise from the ashes and let herself live anew. Shoto Todoroki looked at her form tearing through his fire and grinned- actually _grinned._

Breathlessly, Kimiko felt herself smile back.

She leapt onto a spider-like strand of ice, willing the power of the universe to have it _hold_. With a cry, she threw herself into the air, a sledgehammer appearing in her hands which brought it crashing down.

Todoroki extinguished his fire and threw up a wall of ice. The sledgehammer crashed into it, dissolving away into nothingness as the ice exploded into a thousand shards of dazzling brilliance. He reignited his left side and looked up at her, lips slightly parted.

There was a small window of time when he switched between his two sides, and Kimiko exploited it ruthlessly. By the time the fire had leapt up to devour her, there was already a gun in her hands.

A gun, a knife.

A past that didn't die.

It no longer felt cold and foreign between her fingers. Maybe it was the knowledge that the gun was empty. Maybe it was the intimacy of its gunshot which had never really left her ears. The weight of everything that had happened four years ago lay heavy in her hands, cold and foreign and revolting.

She landed in front of Shoto Todoroki whose eyes were trained on the gun in her hands. The fire _whooshed_ back to life and she lifted the gun, the action echoing what she'd done to that villain all those years ago. Kimiko let that old despair wash over her. Let the hopelessness, the fevered rage and desperation build. She let it flow into the gun in her hands, that cursed weapon that had blown out a human's brains.

And Kimiko laughed, and threw it all away.

She let the wind rip the shell of the gun into dust, but the fire, eternally starving, latched onto _something_. The only thing she'd let remain.

Gunpowder.

Kimiko let herself fall backwards off the bridge of ice, eyes still dancing with laughter as an explosion of scorching heat swelled and burst from the heart of the burning kingdom.

 _Let the past die,_ she thought viciously.

Shoto Todoroki fell.


End file.
